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Klinsmann stresses patience for Morris in first pro season

Photo by Jennifer Buchanan/USA Today Sports
Photo by Jennifer Buchanan/USA Today Sports

Jurgen Klinsmann has a message he would like to deliver in regards to Jordan Morris: Be patient.

Morris is a month into his first season as a professional player, and so far the performances have not been as great as some may have expected. The 21-year-old forward has played in each of the Seattle Sounders’ four games thus far, but has yet to score a goal or deliver an assist.

That may have played a part, even if only small, in the Sounders getting off to a slow 1-3 start that has them at the bottom of the Western Conference, but that’s just fine for Klinsmann because he believes Morris needs time to adapt to this higher level of the game.

“I think it’s really important, for example, in a case like Jordan Morris that we are patient, that we understand it’s a player jumping from the college system into the pro system,” said the U.S. Men’s National Team head coach. “Obviously tremendously talented, that’s why he’s with the national team program, but (the message is) to give him time. There’s no more kind of an experienced coach than (Sounders coach Sigi Schmid) knowing how to deal with that, giving him time.”

Morris, who recently failed to qualify for the Olympics with the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team, began the year by starting in the Sounders’ first three matches. He was then used in a reserve role this past weekend, playing the final 33 minutes as a substitute in a 1-0 home win over the Montreal Impact.

Some observers might see Morris’ removal from the lineup as a negative, but Klinsmann views it as just another step in the promising youngster’s development. Morris might not be off to a blistering start in his pro career, but Klinsmann expects things to change for the better with each passing month.

“He started the first three games, now he came off the bench in order to kind of balance his expectations, but also to balance his game,” said Klinsmann. “In the beginning, definitely it will be a little bit of a roller coaster, but over time he’ll settle with it and he will become more consistent, so it will be all good.”

Comments

  1. At least MLS and their media partners don’t over-hype these types of players, because I imagine expectations would have reached unattainable levels.

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  2. Maybe he just isn’t that good, Jk likes speed and Morris has that but no left foot and the striker depth isn’t that deep. Let’s hope Rubin, Lennon and Wright work out

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    • Maybe he isn’t – but I feel the need here, in the context of this brutal discussion, to back his record somewhat.

      He consistently scores goals for the U-23s, was NCAA’s best player, the Sounders signed him to a record contract- they’d been scouting him for longer than Klinsmann, and he’s played well for the MNT, which at the very least shows his fearlessness and a minimum technical level. Werder Bremen’s coach said this about him – http://www.espnfc.com/story/2785293/jordan-morris-does-things-you-rarely-see-werder-bremen-ceo

      And, for everyone who dismisses him as a one-footed player – in the video in the link, 2nd goal, watch the first touch he makes with his left foot.

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      • 14 is the total number of caps earned by NCAA’s best players (Hermann Trophy winners) since 2000. Nine of those are shared by Bunbury (the only one to score a goal) and Nagbe. Three of them were from foreign players. I agree its not time to write him off by any means, but being college’s best player has been a worse predictor than the Heisman Trophy for the NFL.

  3. Perhaps this doesn’t have much to do with Morris one way or another but I’ve never really enjoyed watching Seattle. There build up through the midfield pretty much doesn’t exist. They got by on lumping it to Oba and having him and Dempsey create something out of nothing. They need a target forward to make up for the poor midfield, or fire Sigi and rebuild the team.

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    • You keep hearing they are going to add an international midfielder, but nothing has come of it. It wouldn’t hurt if they had grass too (not related to their midfield just an annoyance).

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  4. Let’s see if Ive got this rstraight… He’s tremendously talented and that’s why he’s with the NATS but he is not showing his tremendous talent in lowly MLS? and he needs more time

    I wonder if Klinsmann ever thinks about how what he says sounds? The fact is Morris is basically a one trick pony that MLS has figured out. A speed forward with not a lot else.

    He should have stayed at Stanford and got his degree. He may need it if this soccer thing doesnt work out and it’s heading in the wrong direction right now

    Finally, why does Klinsmann feel he needs to say anything about these things? It seems like he likes to keep HIS PICKS in the news as much as possible. I think its so that when he picks them again, he will be justified

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    • Look…. as is fairly typical, there has been overhype on another prospect, but…. no need to swing the pendulum all the way over to the other extreme. As is almost always the case- the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Do you suppose Werder Bremen went out of their way for giggles? They were fairly disappointed he turned him down. He is just getting his feet wet as a pro. Time will tell.

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    • There have been numerous example of experienced, high paid professionals who have needed time to adjust to MLS. Cahill, Gerrard, and even Dempsey come immediately to mind and Dempsey used to play in MLS. Not a lot of college kids come into the league and start scoring in bunches. Add to that the fact that the Sounders have changed their formation and have made a number of personnel changes and the team as a whole has not yet adjusted or done well, and your comments about Morris are unreasonable when put into context. The season is 4 games old and even Dempsey has only 1 goal and many other strikers have yet to score. Just another example of someone who wants to bash Klinsmann, so you use a ridiculous standard to find fault with a player he likes. Sometimes it seems like hardly anyone here considers context, perspective, or historical evidence.

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      • @Gary Page, Excellent analysis! It’s amazing that some fans, who used to overhype JM as the next American soccer savior just months ago, have turned on Morris so quickly when his pro career is only 4 games old. I get it. The Klinsmann’s haters will take every opportunity to trash whatever the German says.

    • Its from an interview, the interviewer asked him specifically about Jordan Morris. So that’s probably why he talked about Jordan Morris.

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    • On the national team Morris has more freedom and less pressure to play since he was mostly the unknown so teams don’t expect much or prepare for him. With the Sounders there’s less talent and teams are going to be prepared and focused on limiting him.

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  5. As I had forewarned few weeks ago when he signed with SSFC, nobody is going to be giving a him a free ride anymore. All those entitled guys he played against in college aren’t exactly facing a life or death situation with their job. He is playing against grown men whose livelihood is at stake and all of them have as much (playing) experience as him if not more, and a different type of intensity than the college game.

    Welcome to the real world. Better put up or go home.

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    • I learned that at my first engineering job on day two. This isn’t the lab anymore and if you aren’t on point then you will be made the butt of jokes around the office and people will resent you for always asking for help on things you should know or be able to look up yourself.

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      • Many here were expecting him to walk onto the team without earning the spot. He hasn’t even proven himself at the pro level yet people were already making formation changes to accommodate him by going to 4-3-3, etc.

        The kid has NFL size and speed, but you also need to have tactical acumen to succeed in MLS.
        Look at Marvelle Wynne with his physical attributes; it didn’t exactly elevate his game over the average MLS player.

  6. Shame on his coaches for not making him learn to use his left foot. He does some really bizarre things to avoid using it.

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    • Which coaches are you blaming? Sigi has had him for what, two to three months or so? Maybe his youth and college coaches. I agree he should learn to use both feet , but there are exceptions–Arjen Robben being the most notable. Why didn’t his coaches ever change him?

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  7. That picture says it all. He has to run around the ball to play it with his right foot since his left is pretty much useless.
    Unfortunately, other than whatever improvement one gets from kicking the ball around every day this is as good ad he’ll ever be. MLS is not known as a developer of young talent. Quite the opposite.
    If he’d only had a chance to go somewhere where player development is a priority. Somewhere like Germany.

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    • And, as soon as I post my comment, I see someone has validated my statement about impatient fans. Rob, most US players who have done well abroad, like Bradley, Beasley, Dempsey, Howard, Cameron, and many others, started out in MLS.

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      • Maybe it’s time to redefine the meaning of “Well”
        People like you prefer to keep the ceiling low when it comes to American players abroad. Probably to avoid disappointments.
        I bet you can’t wait to see Morris fighting relegation in the EPL.

      • Yet, with these terrible players, Rob, the USMNT gets comparable results to your heroes, El Tri.

      • I don’t understand your response. I was originally responding to your comment that he will never get any better, a pretty fatuous statement on its face since many MLS players have and there’s no telling what Morris will do. And are you disputing that Dempsey, Bradley, Beasley, et al have not done well? Starting regularly in a top 5 league would be considered well by almost every fan in the US. As for setting the bar low, I have been one of the biggest advocates for US players going abroad and playing in good European leagues whenever possible. I was disappointed Morris didn’t take the German opportunity, but the most important thing was that he start playing professionally immediately and get as many minutes as possible. I gave numerous examples of MLS players who improved and then went overseas and it will continue to happen.BTW, here’s a hint. You shouldn’t make sweeping extreme statements like “as good as he will ever be” if you want to be taken seriously. Now, if you had said that his development could have been faster and better if he had gone to Germany, that’s a reasonable opinion. But your statement was ridiculous and is contradicted by many real world examples.

  8. This is why our elite players should not be wasting time in NCAA ball. Dele Alli is a year and a half younger than Morris and already has played in 131 professional games. A player like Morris should be further along his development curve.

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    • Guess he could have gone all in in SEA but… the question is what his other options were/ how many saw him as an elite player 3-4-5 years ago and….. whether the development infrastructure was in place. That aspect of MLS/US Soccer is JUST getting underway, but is getting better- there are at least more options for standouts now than ever before. In Jordan’s case, his family, priorities, it may not have made a difference, but college isn’t remotely seen as the primary route to a pro career anymore. Doesn’t hurt to have another way for late bloomers, those who slip through the cracks.

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      • That’s a fair point but with most MLS teams having USL teams now, the opportunity to play professionally at 17-18 is there and it’s a lot better for development than playing in college.

      • While I agree with Slow in that NCAA is a waste for truly elite players, we have to assume it will continue to there as a very high proportion of soccer players come from middle and upper middle class neighborhoods. As such, college and will also be a priority unless MLS starts handing out singing bonuses that will cover the lost NCAA scholarship.

        On a side note, Jordan Morris did not come out of the blue. In the summer of 2013, Morris, Cyle Larin, Tommy Thompson, Jordan Allen and Zack Steffen were all listed as top 10 recruits by several publications including Top Draw Soccer (Topdrawersoccer 2013 Men’s Freshmen Top 100)

      • To be perfectly fair Seatle Sounders II didn’t begin play until 2015 so Jordan would have likely sat around on the Seattle did not dress list for two years and at best played for the reserve team that usually play ten or twelve matches, makes it a little easier to see why he chose college. There were only two USL teams West of the Mississippi the year he graduated from high school as well.

    • Morris wasn’t even on the U20 qualifying squad or World Cup team, so I’m not sure how many offers he would have had at even the League 1 level MK Dons was at when Alli was there.

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      • He wasn’t on that squad because he was a few months too old. I believe his birthday is in November or October and the cut-off for the U20 World Cup was changed to January a couple years ago (from August). It’s the same reason Bobby Wood wasn’t on the U23 pool.

        Morris was not an unknown quantity. He was a top 5/10 recruit and named U.S. Developmental Academy National Player of the Year as a senior in high school.

      • He was 18 at the time of the 2013 U20 World Cup and played with U20s at Toulon which was their warm up that year as the World Cup was in Turkey two weeks later. He was replaced by Jose Villareal, who to be fair had already played double digit numbers of MLS games and scored a goal or two for Galaxy.

        I’m not saying he wasn’t a quality player and that he couldn’t have been on USL or German Regionalia squad, but he gave no indication in the summer of 2013 that he’d have his first full national team goal less than two years later.

    • James ;Milner played his first professional game when he was 16 and I happened to see him score his first professional goal–in the EPL–when he was still 16. And that, my friends, kind of tells you what you need to know about youth development in the US vs. abroad. We have a long way to go to catch up with the top countries. At least we have Zelalem and Pulisic to look forward to. I’m glad to see Klinsmann make this statement since all too often US fans will get excited by some young prospect, then if he doesn’t deliver immediately, they deem him a failure.

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      • James Milner also joined an Academy team at a much earlier age than any American player has had an opportunity to. Until academies in the US have U-8 teams there will always be a gulf between the level of training players abroad can achieve and what players stateside can.

      • Until a better percentage of our best athletes choose soccer as their top sport we will continue to be behind countries like Germany, England, Colombia in terms of development. Soccer is much more popular than it was even 20 years ago, but the bottom line is football and basketball are still getting much better athletes on average than Soccer.

      • You have to be TALL to play BB outside of maybe point guard. As far as American Football, The only positions I think where body types translate well to soccer are Corner, Wide Receiver and maybe Running Back but those guys are usually built really thick. We have 300 million people and 10 properly developed dempsey’s would be enough to win a WC.

      • Johnnyrazor,

        That is a foolish and naive argument. There are 330/350 million people in the US. Netherlands is 17 million. Argentina is 50 million. There as many people in NY state as they are in Netherlands, but these countries produce MULTIPLE world class players EVERY generation. It is the identification and development process. Netherlands used to be a backwater until the 60’s when they changed their process.

        A few things that hurt the US include: geographic size, talent identification, cost/risk pay off (in terms of college scholarship, low pay, paying for some elite training).

      • djdj: at 13 or 14 when kids are making their decisions on what sports to concentrate on they are all the same size. Even up to JV football players except lineman don’t look physically different from soccer players. You are right about height, but again most high school players are under 6’4″, so if they choose soccer over those sports you have better odds of developing better players. Zlatan is 6’5 and had he grown up in Milwaukee instead of Malmo he probably would be another JJ Watt.

        Ed: Look at the top soccer nations Brazil is good at soccer and at times ok at basketball and volley ball, so if you are a top athlete you focus on soccer because that’s what everyone else does. Netherlands its pretty much soccer and speed skating so if you don’t like cold you are playing soccer and what is on every channel on Saturday and Sunday, soccer. Its only been in the last 5 years that you could even find the BPL on regular cable channels.

        I’ve worked in schools for 15 years in Colorado were soccer is pretty popular and almost at 100% clip if an athlete had a choice of playing soccer to any other sport they picked the other sport even when they were much better soccer players because it was cooler and more popular. So I am far from naive. You are right about with the issues you raised, but the more elite athletes you can pump into the system the better odds you have of pumping out elite soccer players.

      • Doesn’t really seem right that Europe can transfer teens across the continent, but no other region is allowed.

      • Sure it’s fair. It’s called EU regulations pertaining to Free Movement to facilitate trade. US can do it with other North American countries (Canada, Mexico, Carribean/West Indies), but you would have too many people cry about stealing jobs etc.

      • Ed the point of the rule though is to keep teenagers from being bought and sold and moved away from their homes and families. No different going from Hungary to Netherlands, than US to Mexico, or Canada to US.

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