Team USA's Alex Morgan Shares How She and Taylor Swift Have Supported Each Other's Careers (Exclusive)

Morgan and her World Cup teammates also shared which celeb they'd want to play them in a movie!

The United States' women's soccer team is ready to roll!

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off on Thursday, and ET's Will Marfuggi spoke with some members of Team USA before they flew to Australia and New Zealand to try and defend their reigning title once again.

With a roster spanning everyone from 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson, making her World Cup debut, to 38-year-old Megan Rapinoe, who is gearing up for her fourth, there's a range of nerves and excitement among the world-class players, but all of them told ET that they just couldn't wait to get on the pitch.

"I feel excited. I'm not super nervous," shared Sophia Smith, 22, who is also headed to her first-ever World Cup and said she feels "fortunate" for the team's veteran presence. "I'm just trying to embrace it all. This is a dream come true and I'm excited. I'm anxious for the first game to just start, because it's a long lead up. I'm just ready to play."

Also new to the team this time around is 21-year-old Trinity Rodman, the daughter of NBA legend Dennis Rodman and Michelle Moyer, who has pro-level competition in her blood.

"My mom and dad are very competitive -- and then my dad just has the experience at that level," she shared. "So it's genetic, but also I think there's something in my soul that, like, doesn't like losing."

On the other side of the roster are returning stars like Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn, who have earned their spot on the team once again after taking varying amounts of time away from the game to have children.

"I enjoyed my journey because I felt like I was still an athlete," shared Dunn, who welcomed her first child with her husband, athletic trainer Pierre Soubrier, in May 2022.  "For me, I still stayed around the game.... I was there at training. I was doing passing patterns for a good long while until I was like, 'All right, I can't see my feet.'"

Dunn said that her Team USA teammates were incredibly supportive of her during her pregnancy and since giving birth, and were there "every step of the way."

"I think that's the biggest message I'd give others is like, you can't do it alone," she added. "Single parents, I commend them, because it really does take a village and I'm somebody that loves to lean on others who are willing to give me help."

Team USA debuted their roster last month in star-studded fashion, with celebrities from sports, music, politics and more announcing each player in an epic social media video. Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin introduced Smith, Dunn got some epic praise from Lil Wayne, and Rodman had a "full-circle moment" getting a shout-out from Shaquille O'Neal.

However, Morgan is pretty certain she had the best celeb announcement, from longtime pal and fan Taylor Swift.

"I mean, she's honestly one of the best humans that I've ever come across," raved the 34-year-old forward, Team USA's leading scorer. "She is so supportive. She's all about women empowerment. We both share our favorite number, number 13, born the same year, in 1989. We've just been really supportive of each other's careers."

Morgan attended a recent performance of Swift's ongoing Eras Tour -- calling it "incredible" -- and says she hopes to return to a show hoisting the World Cup trophy, just like the team did in 2015, during Swift's 1989 World Tour.

"I'm looking forward to hopefully doing that again," she shared.

If all goes well, Team USA will extend their reign as the winningest team in Women's World Cup history with five victories. Only one other country has more than one -- Germany, who won in both 2003 and 2007.

So, if there's one day a movie made about their triumphant run, who would the players want to play them?

For Dunn, the answer is easy: "Kerry Washington."

"I mean, everyone loves Scandal," she noted. "She's obviously amazing. So I'd love for her to play me."

"I've been told I look like Madison Bailey from Outer Banks," Smith said. "So I feel in terms of, like, lookalikes, that's who would play me."

Rodman's answer was also instant: "Zendaya. She's, like, my favorite celebrity. So that would be pretty sick."

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off Thursday, July 20. Click here to find out how to watch!

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