Jordan Morris has, somehow in the pits of MLS crapitude, developed a left foot. Perhaps Seattle's coaches are doing something right, and Morris knew that when he signed.
L O L Year Club GP GS G MINS A SHTS SOG FC OFF Y R 2017 Seattle Sounders FC 23 22 3 1801 1 34 14 15 14 0 0
His stats don't indicate what he's done with his left foot. I've watched him several times this season and been shocked, utterly shocked, that he's used his left foot well so often. That's something that was completely missing from his game before this season, and he's obviously worked hard at it and improved dramatically. He was previously the kind of player the you'd watch and think "holy hell, this guy is completely incapable of using his left foot for anything".
Yeah, that was my point. Not sure Scotland really fits into the general challenge to get on the path to succeed in the best possible league. History suggests otherwise with American players. Boca went there to wind down his Euro career. Beasley went when the Man City loan didn't lead to a full time offer. It got Edu his big time shot, but left him entirely unprepared for Premier League level. Hence my confusion over Jones listing Scotland alongside England and Italy.
Scotland is Not USA, Scotland is Euro... That's all the brilliant wit of Jones needs to know what's what. Why , if Jones had played for Motherwell, instead of LA, he'd have led the USA to the WC!
This. This is why I'm not all doom and gloom to the extent that some other people are, and why I'm proud of what we have accomplished. Look at France as an example: 1994: Did not qualify. 1998: Champions. 2002: Didn't score a goal. 2006: Lost on PK's in the final; runner-up. 2010: We all remember what a farce that was. 2014: Back in the quarters. France has ping-ponged back and forth between success and disaster. Four years is a long time. One cycle has no bearing on the next.
I don't see why people assume we will go to the semi-finals and beyond when we have never defeated an A-country in a meaningful match with this generation. FFS, we lost to Wales at the Euros. Convincingly so.
Hire Bert van Marwijk, who has been sacked by the Saudi's after bringing them for the first time in x qualifications to the WC. If you're in the same group, he will have a mission and the knowledge to destroy them and do the Feyenoord finger to those sandhoppers by bringing you into the final.
Tempting, especially since Van Marwijk would definitely bring Nainggolan back into the fold (who is definitely his type of midfield player).
What continues to surprise me is that anything Jones said is even controversial. In what other sport would that even be an argument? In baseball, no one would say you should stay with the Toledo Mud Hens instead of going to the Cleveland Indians if you had the chance. Not even Mud Hen fans ! If you are a potentially elite say, Turkish national team basketball player, who is offered a shot to play in the NBA, would the Turkish national team coach want him to stay at Besiktas just to promote the domestic Turkish basketball league instead of trying his hand with even the worst NBA team? Not likely. Heck in the latter case, he would prolly rather see a young guy with eligibility go to an elite college program for 3-4 years than stay at home domestically. If you don't have the option, then starting in MLS is a good starting point. It even could earn you a chance abroad later, but if you are young with an opportunity like that, no self respecting coach would encourage you not to take it. This is one of my biggest problem with MLS. At the beginning it was just trying to get established, so there was some value in pressuring our already Nat team players to stay home or come home and play there. But that was over 20 years ago. Now, it is simply about marketing and no way USMNT should be used as a marketing arm for our domestic league, like Garber and the MLS owners see it. Now MLS, its paid shills, and many of its MLS fans are seeing simple truths spoken by Jones and countless other players and previous coaches as threats to their league in a way a AAA baseball team would never see it if one of their players has the opportunity to move up the ladder to MLB. Unfortunately MLS has not provided the sort of structure that will allow it to ascend to the pinnacle of the soccer world and until it does (end single entity and allow clubs to be independent entities operating as fully owned independent businesses playing within a league, not a "partner" with the league), it needs to understand what it is and start allowing clubs to develop players, own their rights and sell them on to better programs or teams within the league that want them. And keep the money. Until then, players need to take good opportunities to play abroad if they want to maximize their abilities. if it doesn't work out, then come back. There are always exceptions to every rule, but it takes an exceptional player to overcome the obstacles he places in his own way by not giving it a go. Or a domestic situation which is significantly better than normal, like Donovan's situation at LA Galaxy where they had quite an array of world class and Nat team players, more than most MLS teams. Or maybe Tata's Atlanta where you DO have a world class coach who understands youth development and has already created one of the top academies in the US after a year or 2. Interestingly, though, he is one who also says the best players need to play in Europe! Prepare for incoming Tata!
Radja is the only Belgian player with grinta. How he is left off by any nat team coach is totally baffling to me.
Morris didn’t have to earn anything. How does this stuff not impact even the most level headed player? Marketing League Soccer! After the Sounders urged caution and tempered expectations (Lagerwey even harped back to his days in D.C., saying "I was in D.C. when they announced Freddy Adu, and I refuse to make Jordan a symbol or a pawn.") the club went on to tweet a side-by-side photo comparing five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi and Morris each raising scarves above their heads from the top of Seattle's Space Needle. Just saying...😉 #TBT pic.twitter.com/JmVN25mVUN— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) January 21, 2016 It also doesn't help that in MLS's official email release about the signing, it includes the tagline: "The next great American star arrives.” https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/01/22/jordan-morris-messi-hype-seattle-sounders-mls
When has that ever worked? Twellman, Casey, Feilhaber, Nguyen, Lletget, Donovan, McBride, Cobi Jones, others???
First, I love Jermaine Jones: he is as under-rated a USMNT star as we've ever seen: he combines incredible skill, athleticism AND the proto-typical American grinta that is all too rare in our current squad. Furthermore, he's outspoken while honorably reflecting how a multi-ethnic culture makes America the greatest country in the world. I also agree with his general philosophy that in order to truly be a dark-horse contender for the World Cup, the US need to have players achieving success at the highest levels of the game and MLS is a long ways from that. However, in Morris' particular case, it was too late: he was already 21 years old and his game is based around speed and effort. MLS was a better place for him to play as he couldn't really afford to use a 2-3 year period developing his game (which is my estimate of what most US trained players require and certainly in his case) as that would eat into too large a portion of his peak years. It's the 17 year olds that we need to encourage to train with the best programs in the world - and we're having increasing success here as Clint Eastwood and others have helpfully shown.