By DAN KARELL
A familiar face has arrived at the U.S. Men’s National Team training camp in Amsterdam.
Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up rising Stanford University junior Jordan Morris to the USMNT ahead of Friday’s friendly against the Netherlands, U.S. Soccer confirmed on Wednesday.
Morris joined the team Wednesday morning, making the short trip from the south of France in Toulon to Amsterdam after playing four games with the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team in the Toulon Tournament. Morris’ lone tally was the only goal scored in a 3-1 defeat to France in the tournament’s opening match.
Morris’ addition puts the U.S. squad at 22 players for their June European camp. Morris has three caps with the USMNT, his most recent scoring a goal in a 2-0 victory over Mexico last April.
It remains unclear whether Morris will stay with the team for its friendly against Germany.
What do you think of this news? Do you see Morris playing against either the Netherlands or Germany? How do you think he performed in the Toulon Tournament?
Share your thoughts below.
Whatever roster shows up will have to play a team game. Playing compact in the middle and wings create space. Players off the ball, playing compact, will have to do lots of extra running and make supporting runs/movement off the ball and in the direction of the ball when changing points of attack. Defenders playing longball is not going to cut it. Crosses into the box with nobody in the box is not going to cut it. Numbers in the penalty area with the ball will cut the mustard. Who am I kidding here, right? Holland and Germany will set the example for all of those in denial. If we cannot get a compact system going then we need to resort to the empty bucket and get our single forward isolated with no support.
I’m curious as to why Luis Gil did not get the call up. This team needs a creative field player. Gil is young, has potential, plays with and is considered one the the stars the U-23 MNT, was in the January camp along with other friendly camps so he knows what to expect. Is Gil injured?
I think I saw somewhere that Gill was slated to be with the U-23 squad but either RSL wouldn’t let him go or he didn’t want to leave RSL. I suppose that maybe he is staying with RSL because he wants to help his club . Why is he taking Zardes, but not Gonzalez? Perhaps because he worked out a deal with Bruce Arena to not take more than 1 player at a time. Club teams are not obligated to release their players for non-FIFA sanctioned dates. This is one of those things that national team managers have to cope with and some of these selecti9ons are probably a result of negotiations between Klinsmann and the club managers.
Gil has no defense and JK wants MFs to play both ways. (JK probably would not have played Pirlo or Ronaldo either at this age, he just doesn’t believe in 1-way play)
I love all of the whining on here. I want to see Davies, no Benny, no McBride, wait LD should be brought in.
Guys, it is OBVIOUS to those paying attention.
JK is calling in YOUNG players to see how they respond. A 30 year old playing now will not help us win in 2018 or 2022. His job is to win then (even if not the coach then), which means evaluate young talent now.
+1
I don’t really care about Morris getting called in, he is just another striker added to the list of strikers on this call-up. I am disappointing though that he didn’t call in a creative/attacking midfielder. That is what this group is missing. I guess we will see Bradley there, but I insist he shouldn’t be playing there. We would be better if we had someone else in the advanced/attacking role and still have Bradley behind him. The team would be more dangerous that way and I think they would create more goal-scoring opportunities.
——-Johannsson——–Agudelo———–
——————–Feilhaber——————-
–F.Johnson——————Zardes/Yedlin
———————Bradley———————-
Shea——Brooks—Orosco-Fiscal–Chandler
———————-Guzan—————————-
Who, that is up to par, should be handed to the No.10 role, in your opinion?
judging from his lineup, i’d say Feilhaber…… considering he IS a number 10… although perhaps you’re implying Feilhaber isn’t “up to par”…
You are out of your mind D,L,O & A. FEILHABER??? what potential does he have? will he ever compete with Germany in a meaningful game? So what if he is passable in MLS. So what? Argh.
you could have said Mix… or someone from the U-20… but no… you go with FEILHABER… in my mind I am dick vermiel… but instead of playoffs, I am screaming feilhaber.
I like Klinsmann.. he’s looking for alternatives… since US doesn’t have to many international players… since MLS is not that good..
I like also how he bring Mexican American players.. hey if they are Americans they can play for USA… plus they have way more experience in soccer…
I don’t like to see the international US players coming to MLS… they should stay in Europe or other better soccer league..
Btw. I like this kid Morris.. if you are in college and the US National Team calls you? Hell yeah I will go!! Klinsmann did good.. this kid is young and hungry for goals! for Morris, this is a once in a lifetime chance!! And he knows it! Go Morris!! Make US proud!!!
Now Waiting Ouspiciously
If Klinsmann won’t even call in a B-team to face the likes of Netherlands and Germany, I’m 100% convinced we will literally never, ever see our true best XI with him as coach. We didn’t even see that at the world cup. It is absolutely ridiculous.
And this is coming from someone who thinks (aside from squad selection) he’s a very good manager.
The goal is to evaluate talent. Winning these matches is secondary. Best vs Best we don’t have a serious chance anyway so why not see exactly how some of these young players do against elite competition? Calling up A line ups for meaningless overseas friendlies is a waste of our time and their time.
If evaluation of up an commer was the objective then they missed one in Bjorn Maars-Johnsen.
National team managers ( except for some of the big time countries) rarely get to field their true best 11’s.
The players are not theirs and they do not have 100% control of their availability.
Bear in mind that the US borrows these guys from their clubs some of whom have millions of dollars tied up in them and are not happy about the added risk posed by the wear and tear.
The US also does not have a deep player pool and injuries are an ever present concern.
You must be unaware of the fact that Altidore, Dempsey, Cameron and Bedoya are all unavailable. Also, Yedlin is with Tottenham and Green with the U-23’s, while Tim Howard is taking the year off. If you had all those guys, you would only be missing maybe Gonzalez and Zusi, from having just about everyone who was on the WC squad.
dude Gary… I am not sure Gonzales and Zusi are on our best 11 any more… and while dempsey still is for now… he is not Pirlo, who can play till 40…
Bedoya has gotten a lot better… but we need to hope we can improve on bedoya too (bring him on as a defensive shift change… or a super sub… or maybe he keeps improving. And Cameron might not be on our best 11 anymore either. Depends on our CB pairing… what happens with chandler… and what happens with Jones.
speaking of that, I would be interested in seeing a 3 man back like this:
fabian, ventura, brooks, cameron, yedlin
you say I have run five names out? yeah, basically, give those wing guys full freedom. I would love to see that and how that works. in the middle you rotate a narrow Bradley, Beckerman/Williams/Morales (who really impressed me in Switzerland), dempsey… and then Johannson and Altidore… or Morris and Altidore… or Johannson and Morris… or really lets cycle through forwards for a while till we find one who sticks.
I don’t know if I am in the minority here or not but I just don’t get it. Do we not have enough strikers playing professionally that could’ve been called in (i.e. Davies) instead of calling in a college kid. I know he has talent and he scored against Mexico but there are a number of people guys busting their tails on the pro level that would love a chance to represent their country. That’s just my two cents I guess. This kid will get plenty of opportunities when he decides to turn pro.
I know what you mean. I would have loved to have seen Davies with the US crest on again.
Sometimes it is hard to find logic in some of JK decisions. But this time I suspect that since Morris was already in France with the u23’s and had no club restrictions, it was easy to extend his European stay.
Gives the team some speed.
I get what your saying completely. If Bob Bradley were still coaching, we’d probably still see a lot of guys in their mid to late twenties still invited to camps because of their form in MLS. This is a very typical, what I would characterize as “American”, approach too it.
The thing with Klinsmann is that he everything but that. Things are approached from an analytical formula, where, event though some players are very deserving call ups, in the long term its better to groom younger, promising players, rather then fill the spots with “deserved” players.
All the ups and downs I feel, of the the American national team over the past few years, have to deal with phasing out the old philosophy and integrating the newer more European approach. I don’t loose any breathe over the subject because I know it’ll take a lot of time for this approach to work.
People may hate Klinsmann now, but even if he were fired, its not like we’re going to go back to the old way of doing things. The USSF is commited to this new approach and if he is ever fired I don’t think we’ll be seeing an American replacing him any time soon.
Has this brilliant philosophy resulted in better results? Nope, same results as before.
Actually 2014 is the first cycle I can recall where we made it out of consecutive group stages in WCs. Generally we flamed out every other cycle going back to 94.
’94 R16
’98 Group
‘2002 QF
‘2006 Group
‘2010 R16
‘2014 R16
‘2018 ??? THe point is there is one example of progress. In competition that has mattered, ya know, tournaments, we have done well considering the value of our roster on the world market which is below Mexico’s.
How does JK get credit for us advancing out of consecutive group stages when he wasn’t in charge in 2010? He got us out of the one group stage he’s been in, same as Bradley did. Admittedly the group in Brazil was harder but I don’t think that’s much to hang your hat on.
you’re (naturally) missing the point; the takeaway is that stats would have predicted us to not pass the group stage yet JK was actually able to keep us on the same level (if not slightly better) rather than the typical ‘every other cycle’ we progress
Also Bradley’s 2010 WC squad had four MLS players so he didn’t just call in MLS players.
Would that be Donovan, Buddle, Findley, and Rimando?
Oh, it’s a European approach. Sweet, I hope JK can tell me, a dumb American, how it is done there…again.
Glad you agree that there won’t be and shouldn’t be an American coach. We don’t have any idea what we are doing. You and the European coaches need to show us the way.
If I haven’t said it directly. Thanks.
WHINING,
“The thing with Klinsmann is that he everything but that. Things are approached from an analytical formula, where, event though some players are very deserving call ups, in the long term its better to groom younger, promising players, rather then fill the spots with “deserved” players.”
You think this is the European approach? That European coaches came up with this philosphy?
There are more than a few NFL teams who follow this “European approach” every season.
Your Welcome.
Always happy to enlighten those in the dark. No thank you’s needed.
You’re…
Welcome.
I think maybe a lot of people don’t get this about Klinsmann, but he really is American. He’s a progressive thinker, innovative, out of the box, follows his own lights…there’s a reason he’s in America, living in Southern California…and it’s certainly not because he’s a stodgy German traditionalist. He got them out of a very stolid, mechanical, rigid, almost mechanistic (translation: very GERMAN) approach. And he generated much the same backlash over there he is now doing over here.
If you can put up with the fact that he’s condescending, he’s also very right. And the most valuable thing he has is an absolute knowledge of where the quality marks are. He knows exactly how good you have to be, and at what level, to be successful, and he’s insistent the USMNT hit those marks in every age group…and he’s very honest about it when we aren’t, regardless of whose ego gets bruised.
Like him or hate him, we’re a lot more knowledgeable now than we were then, and so much more confident and casual about playing with the big boys it’s night and day. I remember how wired-up and tight Bob Bradley was right before one friendly we had against Argentina in New Jersey…he was sitting there going: “Games like these require ENORMOUS CONCENTRATION”, and the guys in the locker room were all sweaty, glaze-eyed…scared. They came out with ENORMOUS CONCENTRATION, granted, and somehow scrapped their way to a real ugly 1-1 bunker-ball draw…but there was no confidence there, no sense that hey, it’s just a game, we’re as good as they are, let’s get after ’em, have some fun, and go compete. And that was 2011, I think.
Klinsmann expects his guys to compete, and he’s not afraid to throw even an experimental B team in against, say, Germany, or Netherlands, or Chile…in their own backyard. And he’s not sitting there grim-jawed and so tight you can hear his jaws grinding with a locker room full of guys with inferiority complexes.
Klinsmann’s brought a familiarity with the elite levels – and a completely different mentality to the USMNT. They just aren’t scared of these games any more, and so many guys get so many of them it’s a very different feeling when they take the feel. Even in this latest round of games in Europe, while there were some ugly stretches in the matches, you never got the sense the team was scared, in over their heads, or intimidated…and they had leads in just about all of them.
That’s very different, and people maybe need to watch the US Soccer videos of the USMNT even in the Bob Bradley era and you’ll get an idea just how much things have changed.
Good points. I, too, have noticed how Klinsmann is very American in outlook, in addition to having some Germanic components. He combines a can-do confidence/optimism with a seriousness and dedication to task. The US did not often play European teams in Europe before JK, now it is routine. Our level of opposition is much higher in friendlies than it used to be.
DUDES… JK watched Jordan Morris play in Toulon… where he was definitely one of the best players. IF I WERE TRYING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT CALLING IN AMERICANS, I would note that a college kid from the US got called in above Julian Green…
But Brian, Kev, and Old Man River are just pissed that some older player that they remember having scored a single goal in a match against mexico… but who no longer has the speed (and NEVER had the touch) didn’t get called up.
What… you are not american if you don’t play in MLS?
c’mon man!
He was already in Europe for the Toulon Tournament and if Klinsmann is really trying to get him into the senior national team picture, why not put him on a train and have him join the others in Amsterdam?
After seeing this guy play with the U-23’s, I am persuaded he has tremendous potential. He has earned his spot. My thought is that Klinsmann is auditioning him for an offer from a European club. I think most every US fan thinks he should turn pro, but he seems unwilling to leave Stanford for the Sounders. But if a big European club comes knocking with an offer with a big contract, maybe he will change his mind. Also, the reason why Agudelo isn’t playing for Stoke is he couldn’t get a work permit because he didn’t have enough national team appearances. Klinsmann is now giving both Morris and Agudelo national team appearances. He is showcasing them for European clubs and making it easier for them to get their work permits.
Gary… definitely that… +1… but also, Morris was top 2 in the toulon tournament for our team. He played waaay better than Julian Green (for example).
so I am happy for him.
Every callup like this has bombed longterm so far. Green…bust, Yedlin … nothing special yet….Jordan …. jury is out but I don’t think he’s anywhere near ready for this level. Juan A or Davies are. The other forwards called in must be thinking WTF at this point.
I luv the USA Nats but hate JK the coach. I hope the Dutch and German’s kick up back to the stone age. It’s the only way we can hope for a major change… that or Sunil goes down in the FIFA scandle and we get a better person that is willing to send JK packing
Well, Juan Agudelo got called up, and I think he’ll start.
Morris is 20. Charlie Davies is 30. Morris has more pace than Davies does now. Yes, Davies is looking much more like “himself” again after basically putting himself back together again for the last five years after a car accident that could have killed him – and did result in him losing almost an inch of bone off one of his rebuilt legs – but who are you going to invest in?
If you don’t think Yedlin showed out at the World Cup, you weren’t watching the same games I was. He showed out even more in those MLS friendlies (Tottenham-Sounders, and the All-Star Game against Bayern…who lost, incidentally), and if you can’t see the upside I don’t even know what to say.
BTW…Julian Green was very good for the U-23’s in Toulon. He’s certainly “earned” his Olympic spot and is certainly showing the kind of quality that will get him named to the senior squad.
I’m slightly surprised but pleased by the number of quality responses on this topic. Whether you fully agree with Klinsmann or not, he is moving all directions toward the future at all times.
RE Morris – the kid has an x factor. He needs a team. It would be dumb to not bring him give him a cap and showcase him.
Additional point about Green is that he’s actually young enough to be with the group in New Zealand. Imagine adding him to that mix and that generatio n of players..
I don’t think we make it to knockouts without Yedlin.
Ryan… you must be trolling with a comment like that.
USMNT minutes are not a reward for good MLS play. Charlie Davies already had a run with the Senior national team. USMNT call ups are not a function of MLS. KLinsmann obviously has his eye on younger players as the 2014 WC generation rides into the sunset. Perhaps Klinsmann will convince him to go pro and pursue a contract in Europe.
Agree with this. There’s so many more factors in these USMNT friendlies than who is in the best form. We all want to win all the time, but a guy like Morris will benefit greatly from a camp in europe where euro scouts can see him play. Hopefully help get him into a good club situation when he turns pro. And he has no attachments and already was in Europe. Plus, guys like Davies, JK can see play in MLS, he already knows what kind of quality he’s getting with a lot of guys playing regularly, he has no idea whats going on with some of the younger guys and needs to bring them. They will be the core of the WC in 4 years so he needs to bring them in for status checks and help their development along any way he can.
And hopefully he will ignore JK and stay in school
Brian S.
I’m curious as to what good would come from calling in Davies do for the USMNT? Is he a serious contender to be on the Gold Cup squad with Juan?
It certainly seems that if Juan does his thing he will probably supplant the injured Jozy.
Wouldn’t you rather pair Juan with Morris or maybe Wood, Rubin or AJ. All five of the guys I mentioned might even be around for 2018.
Besides.. when you do call in Davies.. make it in the US. And make it when Jozy will play too.. and Holden can be on the mic.
If that won’t get the blood flowing nothing will.