The start of Jordan Morris’ professional career hasn’t gone as expected, but the Seattle Sounders rookie provided his first signature MLS moment on Saturday.
Morris netted what turned out to be the game-winning goal for the Sounders to lead the way in a 2-1 victory at CenturyLink Field. The goal, Morris’ first in MLS, was enough to earn the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team forward honors as SBI MLS Rookie of the Week.
Displaying the pace, touch and power that have made him a can’t-miss prospect, Morris darted through the Union defense and onto an Andreas Ivanschitz long ball. The Stanford product’s first touch was perfect, taking the ball down before firing a shot for his first professional goal. Even prior to scoring, Morris looked lively throughout, and could have easily had an assist if not for the heroics of Andre Blake.
The finish is likely the first of many, earning Morris Rookie of the Week honors over Jonathan Campbell and Joshua Yaro.
What did you think of Morris’ performance? Which rookie stood out to you this past weekend?
Share your thoughts below.
I feel like some people are way to excited about this guy. He’s probably the most limited striker we’ve had in our national team pool since Robbie Findley or maybe Eddie Johnson. Morris’s ceiling is probably a little higher than Bobby Wood or Jerome Kiesewetter (other relative newcomers), but mostly because Morris is a couple years younger than them. His ceiling is definitely below Altidore who when in form can take defenders one on one, play in the air, hit acrobatic volleys, hold the ball up and shoot with BOTH feet. I mean seriously, the dude has a middle school level left foot, and it’s not like his right foot is Vieri level or anything. If he was left foot dominant then I might be interested, but of all the great one-footed players, very few are right footed.
I’m not writing him off yet, but if he isn’t getting regular goals by the end of next season (goals which result from more than hustle and speed), then in my mind he’ll probably never be any more useful to the US program than Wondolowski or Gomez were.
I bet Ryan was getting kind of nervous waiting for Morris to do something newsworthy so he could post this piece which he wrote as soon as Jordan signed with Seattle.
“firing the shot for his first professional goal”, or gently poking it past with the wrong foot because you are deathly afraid of doing anything with your left. Still a nice run and a deserved goal from the chances he had throughout the night.
Nice! of course he put it in with his right foot……
He is much better up top, rather than on the wing. when he moved back to the outside, Really not that good. Seattle will have decisions to make.
Crowd went crazy when he put it in.