Algarve Cup 2012: Alex Morgan Will Be US Women's X-Factor Once Again

After Alex Morgan's performance in last year's World Cup, you have to believe the sky's the limit for the 22-year-old rising star.

As the 2012 Algarve Cup kicks off on Wednesday, Morgan figures to be another key piece in the U.S. women's run at the 2015 World Cup.

In last year's World Cup, Morgan scored two emphatic goals against France and Japan off the bench, giving the aging women's team life and planting herself among the great up-and-comers in soccer.

This year, Morgan will compete with Heather O'Reilly, Amy Rodriguez and Megan Rapinoe for one of the outside flank positions in coach Pia Sundhage's new 4-2-3-1 formation. It's still unknown who will ultimately start, but you can bet Morgan will make an impact regardless of where she is on the depth chart.

Morgan already seems ready to shine.

Morgan said in January, via ESPN:

"

In the beginning, I was really thankful because I had just come on to this team and was thankful enough to be given this opportunity to play and come off the bench, be that player who was able to make an impact and run at defenders who were tired in the last 10 minutes. Definitely now, competing every day with these players, I've seen improvement in my game, and I think that I'm ready to take the next steps. I'm just waiting to go.

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There are questions about how many opportunities Morgan will get, at least in the early going. If Sundhage uses her as a bench player, she's obviously not going to get a lot of minutes. On the other hand, using her too much may disrupt her explosiveness.

Sundhage said, via ESPN:

"

"When she's coming off the bench, what we tell her pretty much is, 'You know what? Turn and just get past the back line, find the bending runs.' You can't do that for 90 minutes. You have to be more sophisticated than that. But if you play 20 minutes, you can do that. Morgan understands that that role is very limited, and the team understands that, as well. She's a young player, and it will take a while for her to understand how to read off of a player."

"

But there has been some disagreement throughout soccer of Sundhage's tactics. Some believe Morgan has grown enough to be a starter at the flank position, including her coach when she was with the U.S. U-20 national team, Tony DiCicco.

Against New Zealand two weeks ago, Morgan scored twice in the final minutes to lift the U.S. to a 2-1 victory. She appears to have picked up right where she left off, and the women's team couldn't be any happier.

With the U.S. women aging, Morgan is their lightning in a bottle.

And the whole world better watch out.