Bergbau » physical runs, center Jason Kelce said. Ryan

With the lure of Champions League football proving too strong to resist, United States forward Alex Morgan is joining European champion Lyon in a move she hopes will help her become the worlds best player.Lyon announced on Tuesday that Morgan is arriving from Orlando Pride on a six-month deal, with an option for her to play a further season.The 27-year-old Morgan wants to make the most of her career as she enters her peak years.I hope that this change will help push my game to another level, she said. I want to be the best player in the United States . the best player in the world.Morgan has made 120 appearances for the U.S. womens team and scored 73 goals, winning the Olympic gold medal in 2012 and the World Cup last year in Canada.But she has never sampled European club footballs intense rivalries, and this was a chance to good to miss, especially considering three-time European champion Lyon is among the best teams around.Training with these incredible athletes each day, and learning a unique style of play, is exactly what I need, Morgan said in a long letter on The Players Tribune website. I will also be immersed in a soccer culture that I believe is precisely what I need at this point in my career. It has always been a dream of mine to `live soccer and to compete in the Champions League.Lyon is in second place in the league this season, three points behind unbeaten Paris Saint-Germain. A 1-0 defeat to PSG on Saturday was Lyons first league loss in more than two years.Morgan will form what looks on paper like a devastating attacking partnership with France striker Eugenie Le Sommer, who has 16 goals in 12 games this season and 186 overall since joining Lyon in 2010.Morgan explained further on The Players Tribune that she made the decision during a belated honeymoon that I recently took with my husband, Servando, in Europe. After a few weeks of deliberation Morgan said the decision to join Lyon became evident.Lyon is a team thats world-renowned for excellence, with a roster that includes many of the greatest players in the world. In fact, Lyon won all three possible titles last season: Champions League, French League and the Coupe de France, she wrote. They are committed to growing womens soccer and provide the women with first-class facilities and an unparalleled training environment on par with the mens team.Long-serving Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has overseen considerable success with both the mens and womens teams.The men won seven straight French titles from 2002-2008 while the women have won the league 14 times.Alex Morgans arrival demonstrates Lyons will to invest in the highest level, starting with the women, Aulas wrote in a Tweet.The womens squad has 26 players, all of them internationals, representing France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand and the U.S.Morgan starts playing next month and will return to play for the Pride after Lyons season ends in June.Im committed to Orlando. Just as Im committed 100 percent to the National Team, she said. Those things wont change, but right now I need to follow my heart.Morgan and other players from the U.S. national team are allocated to the National Womens Soccer League teams by the U.S. Soccer Federation, which pays their salaries. The players labor contract expires Dec. 31, leaving either side in position to call for a work stoppage.Alleging wage discrimination, Morgan and four other U.S. national team players filed a complaint in April with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the USSF.Her move to club football in Europe will have a short-term effect on the Pride.We are obviously disappointed that Alex will miss the beginning of the Pride season but understand her wishes to play in Europe and we look forward to her rejoining her teammates after Lyons season, said Phil Rawlins, president of Orlando City SC, the MLS club affiliated with the Pride.This in no way affects our plans or commitment to growing Orlando Pride and we will continue providing the team the best available players, training resources and staff to become a championship contender in the NWSL and a leader in womens professional soccer.Morgan is used to playing at the highest level of the game.At the 2012 Olympics in London, she scored a dramatic winner against Canada in the semifinals. A year earlier, she scored in the 2011 World Cup final, which the U.S. lost to Japan on penalty kicks.A star in the NWSL, Morgan previously played for Western New York Flash and Portland Thorns. She was named U.S. female soccer athlete of the year in 2012.Lyons first league game following the winter break is away to Guingamp on Jan. 15, although she could make her debut in a French Cup game the week before at Evian. Best Site Buy China Jerseys . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Where To Buy Cheap Jerseys . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. http://www.cheapjerseysreview.com/ . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. 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He had a season-best 108 yards rushing and two touchdowns while the Eagles piled up 208 yards on the ground.The suddenly successful rushing attack allowed the Eagles to control time of possession by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, forcing the leagues top-scoring offense to be spectators for much of the day.The result was a 24-15 win over the Falcons on Sunday.We did what we needed to do to win, Mathews said. I know the linemen love run blocking. They played great. They did all they could to open up holes for us. We knew it was going to be a hard game. I said throughout the week if any of us got the ball, we were giving 100 percent.Mathews had just nine carries in the past two games while 33-year-old Darren Sproles took over as the featured back. But coach Doug Pederson made a point to establish the run behind Mathews right from the start.Mathews carried seven times for 34 yards on the first drive, taking it in from the 4 for a 7-0 lead. He had a 5-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and also scored the 2-point conversion.I had confidence in Ryan to get the job done, Pederson said. His size and strength paid off.Rookie Wendell Smallwood chipped in with 70 yards rushing on 13 carries. Sproles ran twice for 19 yardds and caught eight passes for 57 yards.ddddddddddddWe stepped up when we needed to, Smallwood said. We needed to establish the run game and we did.The running backs made it easier on Carson Wentz and the offense was more balanced -- 39 pass calls, 37 run calls -- than its been in recent games.The backs did a great job and came up with hard, physical runs, center Jason Kelce said. Ryan had a great day. Even when we didnt block guys, he made guys miss.Wentz finished 25 of 36 for 231 yards. He connected six times with Jordan Matthews for 73 yards and six times with Zach Ertz for 55 yards.The run game was huge, Wentz said. It was good to get Ryan the ball, feed him the rock, and he was running angry. That makes my job easier.The Eagles (5-4) snapped a two-game losing streak and remained unbeaten at home in four games.When Ryan, Julio Jones and Co. were on the field, Philadelphias defense held them down. The Falcons came in averaging 33.9 points per game but didnt find the end zone until Ryan threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Gabriel in the fourth quarter to give Atlanta (6-4) a 15-13 lead.Jones had 10 catches for 135 yards , but he couldnt make catches to extend drives twice down the stretch.---http://www.pro32.ap.org and -http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP-RobMaaddi ' ' '