When Jordan Morris went down with a knee injury over the weekend, the biggest fear was that the U.S. Men’s National Team forward had suffered the second major knee injury of his career.
That fear has become reality, as Swansea City confirmed on Monday that Morris is ruled out for the rest of the league season after scans revealed major damage to his ACL. Morris suffered the injury in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Huddersfield Town.
“He has had a bad injury, unfortunately, there’s significant ligament damage, (to his) ACL. Everything we hoped it wasn’t, it has turned out to be,” said Swansea manager Steve Cooper.
“It’s the end of his season with us and a long road back to recovery for him. It’s a cruel injury anyway, but in terms of him fulfilling his ambition to play in Europe, and embracing what we are trying to do here, it is a really tough one for him and us to take.”
(UPDATE- The Seattle Sounders announced later on Monday that Morris is set to return stateside to undergo surgery in Santa Monica, California. The Sounders did not provide any further detail regarding the specific injury Morris suffered.)
Morris arrived on loan from the Seattle Sounders prior to the closure of the January Transfer Window. He made five appearances for the Welsh club in all competitions, totaling 155 minutes over that span.
The 26-year-old tore his ACL in 2018 in the Concacaf Champions League with the Sounders and was forced to miss the entire MLS season that year. He has since battled back to become one of the top wingers in MLS, while emerging as a starting option for the U.S. Men’s National Team.
“We are gutted for him,” Cooper said. “He was pushing to get into the team after a spell of getting fit, so it is really unfortunate in many ways.
“One thing I will say about Jordan is he is an excellent professional. He is a really good person, and really commits to his profession.”
Morris’ injury also is a major blow to the Sounders and USMNT ahead of a busy 2021 schedule. The defending Western Conference champs open their regular season in April while Gregg Berhalter’s squad will take part in several competitions, including World Cup Qualifying later this year.
There’s never a good time to get injured,
but man, this is a bad time to get injured!
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This was going to be his showcase summer with all of the NT games scheduled. No matter which group he ended up with, we’re losing an important player. I feel bad for Morris, hope he bounces back again!!
The ultimate US conundrum- challenge yourself in a league that’s competitive & pays more, with the potential of not getting minutes, (& not playing), or being injured, (& not playing). Or be top player in the MLS, not get top 10 league paychecks, and still have the opportunity to play for the Stars & Stripes. After Morris tore his ACL in ‘18, I don’t think he gets a chance to wear the US jersey if he was overseas. Damn if you do, damn if you don’t! I can bet he’ll definitely have more support stateside.
Hopefully he’ll have a full & speedy recovery. While it’s disappointing to lose Morris in a year when we have so many competitions, I’m not as concerned as I would be if it was one of our more important players.
For me Morris was a spot starter with the Full USMNT…but would more commonly be a late sub to run at tired defenders. Will his presence be missed this year, Yes. But we have others who can fill nearly the same role for the USMNT….even if they have fewer Caps/Less experience.
Bummer! Speedy recovery, Morris.
damn cruel.
Really bummed as I was proud of him for giving Europe a shot. Better to go down reaching for the stars, then not at all! Hoping for a good recovery.
It’s criminal he’s suffered this injury at this particular point in his career! In a busy year for the USMNT he will be missed as he had become one of the better, more consistent players over the last 2 years, however the growing depth and production of many of our younger options can hopefully pick up the slack and provide stability to the attacking position that JMo held. Sadly though, there will be some that will look at JMo’s time at Swansea and his injury as evidence that he was never cut out for Europe to begin with and they’d be wrong and ridiculous to even equate the two. Morris and Arriola were always operating behind the fitness and form of their teammates at Swansea because of their lack of game time being as though they were in preseason form. The real shame of it all is we will never see(at least not for a year or so)how Morris would have fared when he was fully fit and in form! Speedy recovery bro!
The fair assessment of his time at Swansea is that he didn’t have the immediate impact that people would have hoped for (think Donovan at Everton), but that was never really expected since cuz of fitness, and comparing to Donovan who was a special category of player. Essentially, Morris didn’t have enough time there for any real judgement on how what he was capable of in the Championship.
Yeah, I think it would be harsh to say he wasn’t cut out for it. Did he impress enough in the short time before his injury to make it likely that he will be bought by Swansea? No. But it would be equally unfair to say he wasn’t good enough for the Championship. I tend to think he will go back to America and rehab and then return to Seattle, hopefully just as strong and filled with pace. More than anything, I hope he recovers quickly. This is a terrible injury. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there tends to be two very binary camps in US Soccer regarding Morris as a player (that he is a top player who should be a national team starter at full-strength side or that he isn’t particularly good at all), and although it’s unlikely we will see him at Swansea again, that doesn’t mean he’s done with Europe for good. My money is on him continuing to be a good MLS player once he returns and for us to always have questions about what kind of player he may have been one way or another under different circumstances and in different leagues, but I think all of that should be debated under the umbrella of understanding that Morris is a solid player who we all want to see succeed, whatever that looks like.
As I pointed out the other day, a lot of very good players don’t have immediate impact when going to a different league in a different country, especially at mid-season. Just a shame that Morris had this injury. He has improved noticeably in the last 2 years and deserved better.
dude. such a major bummer.