Photo by Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
By RYAN TOLMICH
By Friday afternoon, Jordan Morris will be bound to the normality of college classes just like any other student; but, Wednesday night presented the forward with a chance to live his dream.
A college student by day, Morris was thrust into the spotlight that evening, helping to lead the U.S. Men’s National Team to a 2-0 victory over heated rivals Mexico.
Just 20-years-old, Morris has grown up with the rivalry, one that was as one-sided as any before he was born. Wednesday, the Stanford forward had his part to play.
Scoreless as the teams emerged from halftime, Morris found himself alone on goal just minutes into the second half. With the weight of his youth, and the Mexican defense, chasing him down, Morris remained calm and fulfilled a goal he’s had for himself since he first kicked the ball as a youngster in Seattle.
“It was a super emotional time,” Morris said after the game. “I dreamed about it last night, I’ve dreamed about it since I was a little kid. Scoring goals, especially in such a big game, it was unbelievable. I kind of honestly blacked out a little bit and didn’t know what was going on. It was such an emotional time.”
Those emotions can be expected from a 20-year-old, one who is set to return to the daily grind of classwork and finals as the college school-year comes to a close. But Morris is anything but a normal college kid; he’s a U.S. Men’s National Team Player, and one that head coach Jurgen Klinsmann thinks very highly of.
In Morris, who was alerted Tuesday by Klinsmann that he would be starting, the German-born head coach sees promise, both mentally and physically. As quick as lightning and as confident as a 20-year-old can be, Klinsmann sees a spark in Morris, one that just needed an opportunity to ignite.
And ignite it did, given the chance due to the absences of incumbent starters Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. For Klinsmann, those absences presented opportunity, and, ultimately, success.
“We coaches always try and foresee a little bit where the path of a player will go. Then also it takes the circumstances to give them that opportunity,” Klinsmann siad. “Clint not coming in with a hamstring, [Chris Wondolowski] had some issues with his calf the last couple of days, and then you say ‘why not?’. Why not give him a chance?…We see his improvement. We see that there is a constant positive path in him. Does he need to mature? Does he need to get stronger? All these things will come over time.
“Similar to other players, when other players aren’t there, that gives them the opportunity to be the ones to jump in and show us how they can play against a team like Mexico in front of 65,000. You have to have your nerves together and not let it get kind of out of control. Jordan, when he was doing his shooting right before the game, he was missing everything. I just told him to just relax, it’s okay, it’s okay. Then, sooner or later, the nerves kind of calmed down and he just tried to play his game.”
Morris admits that Klinsmann was right: he was nervous in the build up, and those nerves led to the putrid performance put forth in warm-ups.
The ability to put that behind him, control his nerves and ultimately express them in the best of fashions was something that impressed Michael Bradley, the veteran who once stood right where Morris now stands.
Thrust into the USMNT spotlight himself at the same age, Bradley understands the weight and pressure that comes with wearing the red, white and blue before an age you can drink, a fact that prevented Morris from earning votes in the Budweiser-sponsored Man of the Match award.
While Bradley admits that part of his role now is to guide young guys like Morris, the TFC midfielder ultimately knows that it’s up to each individual player to swim in deep water.
“You have to make them feel comfortable,” Bradley said, “but at the same time, you can’t hold their hand every step of the way and you also then need to see from them that they’re willing to take the challenge. Obviously you don’t want guys that walk in at 18-years-old and think that they made it, but at the same time you want to see a little bit of personality, a little bit of confidence. You want to see that they’re now excited for the opportunity being given.”
On Wednesday, Morris backstroked his way to success in water as deep as could be, proving to Bradley that Morris has the mental makeup to go with the speed and tenacity that is so evident every time the ball lands at his feet.
“It’s a balance and obviously I think Jordan got a little bit of a taste with our group before the World Cup,” Bradley continued. “He was able to jump in a bunch of sessions when we were training at Stanford. I know he’s been in and out of the group a little bit. He went with the Olympic team and Andy (Hertzog) for a stretch. Every time he comes in, he has a good attitude, you can see he has physical qualities right away, so I think we’re all happy for him.”
As happy as Bradley is for the youngster, it’s hard to imagine anyone being happier than Morris, who had to put off a phone call to his parents to handle his media obligations.
The thrill of a first goal on what must have felt like the biggest of stages is a memory Morris won’t soon forget. With schoolwork and a return to his routine beckoning, the 20-year-old’s goal gives a chance to look at an all too promising future.
“I quite honestly don’t think it’s really hit me yet, to be honest,” Morris said. “We’ll just see how it goes.”
Warm-ups? We are talking about warm-ups? I could care less if a player doesn’t look good in warm-ups. What matters is what the player does in a game.
Interesting that JK said that Wondo had an issue with his calf and that was a reason Morris got the start.
I was amped about the goal, but all told I was not all that impressed with Morris on the night. He has a tendency to run himself into bad positions, too often letting defenders shield him off the ball as the pass comes in. Perhaps the field played a role, but he looked a little out of his depth on the mental side.
Good news is he is young and has time to grow. Right now he’s a 5th or 6th choice striker at best.
The real story for me was Agudelo. If he keeps his form, he could probably move himself into the 4th spot behind Jozy, Clint, and AJ.
AJ needs a good run of form, here at the end of the season. He’s been pretty average for nearly a year now. The footwork and cutting at pace that made him so good has kind of disappeared from his game at the moment. Injuries seem to be a factor.
Excuse me if someone else has said this, but does anyone else see a strong resemblance to a young C. Blanco from Mexico?
I thought I was the only one who saw that.
This is all about Klinsman saving the US Soccer some money. Morris con’t accept any money then he loses his amateur status.
I see dumb people, they’re everywhere….they don’t even know that they are dumb
Even worse, they seem to be multiplying faster than the rest of us. As a political scientist, when I read political comments, I worry about the future of this country. Ignorance and stupidity are rampant. SBI posts are actually better than in a lot of places. At least here, most people write in clear, readable sentences and even use words of more than one syllable.
DDFC,
It is called the Dunning Kruger effect
link to psmag.com
DDFC,
http://www.spring.org.uk/2012/06/the-dunning-kruger-effect-why-the-incompetent-dont-know-theyre-incompetent.php
The announcers said several times that Morris is the first college player to start for the US in two decades. Anyone know who that last player was?
I believe Ante Razov who is now coaching the attackers for Seattle. So he will be working with Ante real soon
Wasn’t it Chris Albright (UVA)?
Ice, watch the replay, from the moment MB wins the ball. Morris is moving all the time, getting into poaching position, interacting with Zardes position and what the D gives him. Then he still had to overcome pressure from 1 or 2 defenders, and then have the presence to execute a low hard shot on target to beat the keeper. Your comment makes it sound like he was just standing there and the ball bounced off his feet into the net.
Stop for goodness sake, please stop. If a fortuitous deflection doesn’t bounce right to him in a perfect shooting situation, we’re not having this conversation.
Gotta be at the right place at the right time to get the opportunity and then calm enough to convert it. Give the guy some credit. Most of Javier Hernandez’s goals are just like that; the guy can barely dribble the ball otherwise, but scores goals in these types of situations all the time (except against the USMNT…hehe).
Sure, and if he does it consistently, then by all means let’s talk him up as the new best thing.
But to say that any real praise is premature would be massively understating it.
Agreed, massively overpraising a young kid is not a good idea. But there is nothing wrong with saying, “hey good job..keep it up”, rather than “you got lucky with that deflection and bounce kid”.
Morris did a good job and deserves the praise
He deserves the praise. Now if these articles are praising him two weeks from now. Then that is something different. He earned his day in the sun.
Cant wait for him to arrive here for the Sounders. He will have the opprtunity to learn to harness that pace and other abilities from Oba Martins and then also learn some technical skills from the Captain himself. Ives said on a podcast a year or so ago that Morris would have been Seattle’s 3rd best attacker had he been with them a year ago. I scoffed at that notion. Now I am not scoffing at it. Am I convinced he is already better than Neagle, no but what I saw last night said otherwise
its how this game is .. over praise for players who did but almost didn’t and never ending shame for those who almost did but didn’t! thats just how it is!
that said this wasn’t an easy tap in and nothing else. he was all over the game in an impressive debut. defiantly looked like a rookie at first but kept at it and never struggled with the speed or tactical side of the game and took his opportunity well. very impressive.
I’m been critical of the Morris selection but I thought he did well. Was surprised to see him starting but he had a good game even apart from the goal. Still think he’s best served going pro instead of spending two more years in college though.
Someone as who has been critical should have heard of the standard at Stanford. Complete so many credits and turn pro as an athlete, you can come back someday. Leave earlier than that threshold and you cant. He is hedging his bets. He could leave after this semester. Seattle has left a HGP/GA spot available for him and he could conceivably be with Seattle this summer but most likely next season. He still does his academy stuff and gets at least some work with Dempsey and Martins, which will most likely be the biggest payoff of joining Seattle. Learning and competing with two guys that have done it at the highest level
Stop for goodness sake please stop…commenting. Your comment is dumb.
I think the article basically said that the kid literally dreamed he scored in USvMex, he dreamed it since he was a kid, and he dreamed it the night before. And he scored, so his dream came true. This is not the Morris for Ballon d’Or blog post.
Ice Hippo,
Fortuitous deflections taking the right bounce happen to lots of players.
Not all of them take advantage. When they don’t we say they missed a sitter and it happens to even the best players.
Morris took advantage and for that deserves all the plaudits he has been getting. Furthermore he did not look out of place while doing it.
The next time he misses a sitter and he will do that, then you can start a petition to deport him or arrest him or whatever SBI US “fans” with their torches and pitchforks always do.
Morris is always one bad play from Rico Clark or Brek Shea status so let him enjoy his moment in the sun,
Honest Morris assessment. He looked much better than i was expecting. As I said, i have seen atleast 5 of his Stanford games and all of his USA games. He hasn’t stood out as much as a 20-year old college player that is getting called up to the national team should in my opinion. But not surprisingly he looked better with pros around him than he did with his Stanford teammates around him.
I now see what JK sees in him. Mainly his blazing speed, but he also had good movement and kept buzzing around in good areas.
It was a great composed finish on that goal, but lets not let the goal take over everything else. Before the goal he seemed very shaky at times as a college player should.The goal completely changed what the narrative wouldve been, but thats ok he deserves credit for the goal. When he had to play with the ball at his feet he looked shaky. Seemed like most of the time Bradley and others kept giving him long-through balls the he could hopefully run on to. Seemed like that was the MO.
He has a lot to learn but nonetheless seems like a bright prospect. I still feel it is very strange for JK to have called up a college player, but he was proven right FOR THIS GAME. I will give JK credit. But lets not do with Morris what we did with players like Bunbury, Agudelo, etc. A goal or good performance early on does not guarantee anything. I am rooting for Morris though, he was exciting to watch.
Good points, UncleBruinGreat. He was shaky but that was to be expected. I feel like the game changed for him when he made that one run up the side line. It didn’t amount to much in the end but it made something click in either him (these guys aren’t all that) or the Mexican D (man, this little whippersnapper is fast we gotta watch him closely) or both. Because after that moment he seemed to calm down a bit and the defense was paying him more attention. This is the part where he amazed me – he knew the D was keeping a close eye on him and so he started putting himself in places that really caused the defense some issues. It was impressive really. Now part of that may have to do with the inexperience of the defense but for this kid to recognize and exploit that shows you something really cool and promising about him.
It was an impressive outing and I am glad for the kid, glad fro the team and happy JK had the guts to do what he did and start the kid.
Dos a Cero, baby!!
Morris seems to have everything he needs. He is fast, strong, seems to have every good awareness, a very high “soccer IQ”, He is brave and tough. I can see why Vogts was impressed.
If he is going to go pro he just needs to go to the right situation. It seems like he is surrounded with a good support network and most of all, he seems to have a very good idea of what he wants to do.
An impressive young man, he is not as stupid as most of the SBI crew seem to think he is. .
+ 1
Owning it after the thread from a couple days ago. Well done sir.
For the 65 minutes he played alongside Zardes, he was the better player. Zardes couldnt hold up play (did better after Maza was subbed) and was lackluster till the last few minutes.
I completely disagree. Zardes was simply the one doing all the dirty work and hold-up play (whether or not he was doing a good job is definitely up for debate). Morris was playing off of him and touched the ball far fewer times than Zardes did. Both Zardes and Morris were doing their jobs, they just had different jobs.
Awesome from MB90 to give him the mexico banner as a memento.
Hopefully the NCAA doesnt consider it a gift. Cause they are the NCAA
It is a gift.
I once had a contractor send me a Xmas card containing a little bag of MM’s in it.
My boss told me I had to turn in the MM’s to HR in order to avoid the appearance of being unduly influenced by inappropriate gifts.
It’s not just the NCAA who get strange.
I am all for people getting a degree whenever possible and a Stanford degree is especially valuable. However, this kid should turn pro immediately and start playing professionally. If he plays in MLS he could probably still fit in a spring semester full of classes for a couple of years and’/or take classes on line. A professional athletic career has a narrow window, but a lot of possible upside financially. The college degree has a very wide window.; There is no time limit on getting your BA or BS. Carpe diem.
It depends how much he is offered. MLS minimum probably isn’t worth it as a Stanford free ride is probably worth about $50K per year. He should definitely test the waters though. All of the cards are in his hand right now.
the top draft picks and hg signings make a lot more than league min.
i would hope that MLS/Seattle can offer him a better deal than the Stanford scholarship.
maybe he plays this fall for the Cardinals and the SSFC2 this summer and goes pro before the 2016 MLS season.. five semesters of free college is pretty good; can always finish those last three remotely or later on.
It wasnt money on the table lacking. Seattle offered a very good offer. He weighed the decision and decided to stay. At Stanford if you fulfill certain requirements and turn pro as an athlete and come back to school no questions asked someday
Totally agree. It’s awesome to use soccer as a means to get a degree if you aren’t going to play professionally. But if you are serious about making soccer your profession, college soccer is not the best preparation.
See my comment above. Finishing sophomore year=come back anytime to Stanford. It gives him a fallback if he has a Stuart Holden injury. Plus his dad will pound that home.
Jordan Morris’ father is Sounders Team Doctor
It seems unlikely but I would love it if Morris stayed in college and still managed to play well for the USMNT.
It would just drive everyone crazy.
This made me curious…. is the reason you (and others, myself included) have this view related to a fundamental inadequacy of college sports (i.e. not enough hours of training, excessive distraction, conflict with academic concerns), or is it simply the product of the specific systems we have here? To put it another way, do you think there is a theoretical way we could improve college soccer (i.e. spending more, hiring better coaches, reorganization, etc) that would make it a more effective and integrated destination for emerging pool players? Or is that just a bad way to allocate resources?
I ask because I think there is value hiding in college soccer — not perhaps as a direct component of our future development blueprint, but as a reference and case study for differentiating. After all, college sports are enormous here, and anonymous everywhere else in the world except for a couple of rowboats in England. Considerable work has already been done by the NFL, NBA, MLB etc. to assess the true “value” of time spent in college sports on professional success. The rest of the world does not particularly care about this kind of analysis, but they have no reason to. They have refined development practices and infrastructure that they trust to pick out 100% of potential assets and develop them internally. To go looking for promising domestic 19-20 year olds who are not in the “system” is like dumpster-diving. Even if you find a Picasso, you’ll always have to explain exactly what it (and you) were doing in there.
We are not able to operate this way, and we won’t be anytime soon. Our system is fragmented, our talent evaluators are inexperienced and understaffed, and our territory is enormous. There will continue to be leakage and “lost time” while we figure out what just what we have. This is compounded by the “late bloomer”” phenomenon that is created by a comparatively limited number of training hours, inefficient talent allocation, and frustrating management of data. Our constraints and challenges mean we will be checking the drain-traps and dumpsters for years to come… we probably won’t find a Picasso, but we’ll take anybody with speed, untapped ceiling, or a vague Jay Demerit vibe.
Managing this problem is tricky, but I worry it is short-sighted to think that phasing out college soccer as a destination for emerging USMNT-level talent will be accretive to our long-term goals just yet. The 18-22 age group has been a development headache for years now, with too many high-value prospects making ill-advised Euro moves or otherwise landing on a bench that deprives them of playing time. When I look at the alternatives that our players have chasing professionally, I feel like college soccer no longer looks so bad. You know what you’re getting, and while it’s clear there is room for improvement, our current solution is yielding way too many unpredictable results. MLS is a crapshoot, even if you are lucky enough to know the team you’re going to play for. Alternatively he can spin the wheel with the Euro clubs and see who’s interested– this will start promisingly until the manager is sacked 5 days later and replaced by a guy who hates Americans almost as much as filing work permits and showering.
It seems to me we are being a bit defeatist if we abandon college soccer without finding ways to improve it. Obviously, soccer is a different game from the other major US sports and the pool of players (inevitably picked-over by MLS and global competitors before anything starts) will yield fewer top-level pros . Yet I have to believe that there is something we can study and implement ,particularly when I look at the careers of US college players (particularly 3-4 year college players) who have moved to Europe in the past decades. We have had a surprising number of real success stories and it does seem that there is an argument to be made that the guys who stuck around Europe’s top leagues longest (sometimes very long indeed) played quite a surprising bit of college soccer, particularly compared to the washouts. Seems almost illogical how these players
This could be coincidence, or a holdover effect from the early days of the modern era, when our guys weren’t too likely to attract European interest prior to college and thus usually had at least some college experience. But I’d take a flyer that there are insights about adaptivity and learning curves that could be buried in the noise, particularly as relates to the timing and duration of a player’s peak years.
I assume nobody finished reading this. Sorry.
going to be rooting hard for this kid as a fellow Type 1 diabetic… it’s us vs. the world…
Except Jay Cutler… kinda seems like a jerk
how does this work with a college student? they are just excused from classes for the entire camp?
For most classes a student does not have to attend class unless there is a test scheduled. Some exceptions might be language classes, labs and performing arts classes. Lots of lectures are posted on line and the student can keep current on class readings and can go to the professor’s office hour if questions remain. Most professors are cool about working around the special needs of their students so Morris’s education can be completed albeit with a somewhat limited set of course options.
Brian,
You went to classes in college?
In all seriousness, for student athletes, the professors are very generous and accommodating. Not all of course, but most. I don’t know why this would be any different.
(It actually really helped if you were a kid that usually went to class, showing up to a professor and telling you were going to miss a test, when you never go to class is a tough discussion…..someone told me)
yes i went to classes in college – thats what i paid 8k a semester for. i understand you statement if this was a stanford soccer team, but its not. something completely unrelated to his school. i just wonder how a top university like stanford handled a student missing days of work.
While he may not be missing class to play for Stanford, he is bringing more attention to Stanford Soccer by playing for the USMNT than he ever will while actually playing for Stanford.
So, I wouldn’t say it’s unrelated.
I’m sure it’s the same for other students that can do something on such a large stage. They may not be w/ the university, but they are representing it.
Schools have students missing class for a variety of reasons & this would be something he negotiates with each professor. It’s easier now than in the past, but it’s not much different than a student needing to travel for a job interview or a grad school seminar.
I got my PhD at Stanford and TAed a number of classes. Part of it’s whole shtick is that is recruits top talent who are smart and driven, so it is pretty darn lax about things like attendance and really fosters independence and self-driven experience. In my department there were surprisingly few elective classes but a lot of students doing independent projects and working in labs. Plus the thing about Stanford is that it has a really small undergrad population and fields like 20+ varsity sports that all compete on a national level so it has a crazy high percentage of students are world class athletes, like maybe 1 in 6 or 8. Stanford has had as many Olympians pass through as schools 4 or 5 times its size and many student athletes compete in non-college competitions. For example, I had cross country athletes in my class who were competing in national meets and water polo players who competed in the Pan-American games as well as a guy who won an Olympic gold medal for Canada in rowing. And while not common on the men’s team, the Stanford women had a number of women like Christen Press, Kelly O’Hara, and Rachel Buelller in the national team setup as well as others who played for New Zealand and other countries. All a long winded way of saying, Stanford is pretty familiar with kids missing class for high profile external events and cultivates an environment where learning is less focused on classes and more on individual achievement in whatever form
As others have said, students are excused from classes for numerous reasons. For example, my son is a student but also a reserve duty Marine. Twice in three years he has missed a full two weeks of classes to fulfill his annual USMC training obligations. His professors have mostly been fully accommodating. I also know a student in a serious battle with cancer. She regularly misses classes at Auburn to travel to Atlanta for treatment. That sometimes means days in an isolation tank. Her teachers make sure she gets all the classwork. And she raises thousands for pediatric cancer research at the same time.
By comparison, missing a couple of days too play a game seems trivial. What sucks for Morris is not missing classes as much as not getting paid. NCAA rules are stupid.
I’m sure his mom could write him a note.
-Signed, Epstein’s mother
You guys are lucky I was an engineering student at an Ivy League school. I had to go to class every week. We had problem sets and quizzes every week as well as between 3-9 hrs of lab each week.
That being said, I know 2 friends who played sports and they wee allowed to take off 1 day for big games at different times (it only happened once for 1 guy and twice for 1 girl). This guys has taken a lot of time off, but he might have a less time consuming major.