Ok, Jordan Morris, is he the deal?

You've definitely got a point. It's much easier to come in fresh and look like a world-beater than to battle it out against a fresh defense. That said, I can imagine Morris coming in as a 70th minute, making lots of straight-line runs, failing to combine with his teammates effectively, dribbling the ball (at great pace) into dead-ends. That's not good enough for the USMNT.

 

2 Mexican defenders were already subbed in at half time another in the 61st and another in the 67th right after Agudelo coming in the 65th. So all defenders were fresh.

 

He gains nothing from the competition in the college game. His last game was against Cal Poly.

I'm not saying he can't stay another two years at Stanford and then be able to play at an MLS level. Plenty of players do that. [Dillon Powers and company.] However, the point of going to college is to get the training required to "go professional" in a person's chosen field. If Jordan has learned nothing else over the last year its that folks within that profession feel he's already got the necessary skills. Staying at Stanford to get a degree in something else is a waste of time at the moment. [It could be noted that quite a number of young players in MLS also take classes at the same time. Colin Martin of DCU has been taking classes at George Washington, for instance. Jordan can sign on with the Sounders, play with them & Sounders II, while taking courses at a nearby school.]

Also....................Jordan will never have more leverage with MLS than he does right now. He'd command at least the salary that Gyasi Zardes got from MLS. So we'll be well over the 200k mark per year to start with. Will taking an organic chemistry class this semester improve that salary offer?

 

Are there better players than him out there, more deserving as well? Yeah, I'd say so.

But, he took his chance, it was a composed finish that you couldn't tell if he was an amateur player.

Things that I see as weaknesses:
- Not a 90 min player yet at this level. That's to be expected college game is totally different. With everyone available he is probably going to be taken as sub

- Before his goal he seemed to run out of ideas when faced with multiple defenders. Decision-making needs to get better. Speed is great, his acceleration even more so. Many last night who don't follow the program as closely as this forum found that out. This why I feel it's very important he gets into a pro environment soon. I understand Stanford is excellent school and MLS might have lowballed him with an offer. However, he needs to be training with pros consistently.

He isn't super young by soccer standards, by American soccer maybe, our late bloomers. Klinsmann might get his wish of Morris going to Europe. National team games are opportunities for MLS players especially an amateur to get noticed for a transfer.

Makes Klinsmann looks like a genius. I say this as someone who was very critical of Morris being here instead of the U-23's.

 

So could I. Although with the way things have gone for Yanks abroad recently, I question the wisdom of that, unless we're talking about the right situation.

As for Morris's performance in this game, I wasn't too impressed apart from that slick finish, but at the same time his play didn't make me question why he was out there, either. He looked like he belonged, and then he got an opportunity and finished, and that's a good sign.

 

No, what should scare you is if he is the real deal and starts to play for Seattle against your Galaxy and my Quakes...

Real deal? Morris showed enough to be on the list of potential players called up. That's about it for the moment...

I would rather him playing with the U-23, but won't lose sleep over it...

 

Fair enough, twitterati. Mike Sorber's first USA goal was 3 September 1992 in a friendly against Canada, and he played for Saint Louis through the 1992 season (and didn't graduate until 1994.)

 

Agudelo was better in his short time than Morris. Morris gets headlines though, younger, amateur player, first start.

 

FWIW, Morris is planning on playing for Seattle in the future.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ed-know-about-usmnt-seattle-sounders-prospect

 

^ We'll see. I'm sure he has European offers.

 

He is like the Love child of Rooney and Reus lol. Similar build of Rooney and Reus with his pace and skill. He needs to GTFO out college though!!

Anyone think him scoring his first goal will make him go pro quicker?? If that were me it would be too irresistible to pass up and tempting. Like Klinsmann call him up and ask him if he can come for an actual competitive game and he says he can't like nah man got a test to study for coach.. Smh

Also college season is short how is he going to keep in rhythm can he play for Sounders USL team in the mean time?

 

Might be the best plan. He is way down the depth chart at Seattle's strongest position, even with Cooper gone. Of course, that is subject to change quickly if their other prospects tank and Barrett reverts to form (which I think he already has).

 

For the record... I'm not really as down on Morris as my posts may indicate. I think he's a talented young player. The problem is that any fast, young player could look OK in a given match, so I don't think the fact that he was able to kick the ball into the back of the net one time under favorable circumstances really tells us much (Julian Green is exhibit A for that). The only think that I think we really know about Morris is that he's FAST. Yeah. He's bold, underline, italics, all-caps fast. That's a great thing, and maybe even, by itself, a reason to have him on the squad (see 2010 Robbie Findley).

The thing that really niggles at me about Morris is that he is one of a bunch of young fast players with limited skill sets that have been consistently getting call-ups. I think having a one or two guys like that in your back pocket can be useful, but littering 3-4 of them on the field at one time is not conducive to the pro-active possession style of soccer that JK keeps talking about. It turns you into a boot and chase team.

So, as that relate's to Morris... If, for tactical reasons, JK wants a joker in his pocket and thinks that Morris fills that role, than by all means bring him along. I just don't want to see Morris, Green, and Ibarra all taking up roster spots, when all three of them have yet to prove that they can consistently play at a high level.

 

I would like to add that Morris looked excruciatingly green all during the first half. There was a particular sequence I remember where Jordan had the opportunity to turn his opponent and didn't, or the times he was pulled out of position. Or the time where he didn't see an open option that had a clearer shot...

Yes, Morris had a great debut. But he is an awfully green player--And I know playing week in and week out in a league will iron out all of these problems as he definitely has the physical skillset to play even on the senior international level, but all this outing told me is that he is going to make a club manager very happy. A domestic friendly is one thing, but Mr. Morris has to show more to be considered for the Gold Cup, although his play has effectively insured that he's going to get more chances to show.

 

Well as I posted yesterday in that ASN article, Sea reportedly lowballed him. MLS as a whole reportedly lowballed a number of top NCAA prospects and it's a reason a number returned to school or trialed/signed in Europe and the draft was so weak. Maybe you believe he should have taken that offer despite not being happy with it. He apparently doesn't agree. The next few years will tell whether it was the right decision or not.

I do think he's wasting time at Stanford right now but I suggest patience in waiting to see what happens this summer. Only a few months away. He looks to me to have the quality to sign for a lower/mid Ered club and would fit in with the style they play over there. If he was able to do that and get an Ered contract at the non-EU minimum, he'd be making well more than an MLS HG offer and would be in a pretty good development environment, still only 20 yrs old.

In general, I'm amused at all the talk over 20 yr old Morris in college given our landscape is full of players who've wasted time in college and went on to anywhere from decent to very successful players. Dempsey was still in college at 20. Would he have been better turning pro earlier? Probably, but it didn't derail his career. Nagbe was in college at 20. He seems to have turned out fine. Zusi was in college at 22. He turned out alright by our standards. Even Zardes was dicking around in college at 21 while refusing overtures from LAG. Yet some appear pretty high on him.

A question is is Morris maximizing his potential as a pro right now? No he isn't. But again, when looking at our soccer structure we've got numerous players who've done the same. When looking at our striker pool, this kid appears to have a higher baseline than most. We'll just have to wait and see what he turns that into over the next few years. By the time he's 23, no one will care what he was doing at 20.

Maybe, maybe not. This article is from early Jan as well and implies a different train of thought. Also, opportunities for prospects can change quickly as doors open. Who knows if that same opinion from early Jan holds true today.

http://americansoccernow.com/articles/mls-lowball-offers-could-undermine-super-draft

We just don't know what the kid's reaction will be to last night. Could convince him to sign with Sea, or it could give him more confidence to try his hand overseas. Last night likely creates more opportunity than he had in Jan.

 

And this leaves aside that nobody (at least in this thread) had actually been behaving remotely this way.

I hadn't thought of that, but Klinsmann actually put himself into a bit of a corner there. If he's going to give chances to off-the-radar players, it'd look odd if he then turned around and didn't make those chances meaningful by following them up with callups in real, competitive games.

 

Why aren't you working as a scout, you were able to evaluate him completely in 70 minutes and despite scoring a goal have dismissed this player. If you need to use me as a reference please mention me, I'll be more than happy to help.

 

Correct, but you are talking about bench players, they did not start for a reason. And to be honest will never make it into the national team again.

 

I agree with all of your points about Morris here. The fortunate thing about Morris, Green and Ibarra is that they have time to learn different skills, they already have all the physical tools they need to play. And I also understand JK's reasoning here, and why I think the US looked so good here while looking so poor in recent outings.

For one, it was the style of play. Yes, the US had pro-active possession, but there were times where the US simply resorted to the old Bob Bradley run and gun plays. And yes, it was highly effective. This makes sense because, with the terrible pitch conditions of the match (And believe me, that pitch and crowd were sterling compared to what we will have to deal with in CONCACAF qualification) it isn't always the best strategy to keep in on the ground all the time--The quick long balls every so often kept Mexico guessing. It was really enjoyable to watch Mix Diskerud and Micheal Bradley, who I feel have now "Got" this new system. They knew exactly when to run with the ball, keep it on the ground for a devastating pass, or to lob it to an open running man. MB may have struggled with the poor pitch, but I saw the Mexicans, especially Montes, struggled even more. The US was far more dynamic, and I really enjoyed how Mexico at times, felt, "Oh my, they are gonna keep in on the ground", only to have Kitchen turn the play into a run and gun and leave Mexico's defense in fits, and vice versa.

So as far as Morris, Green and Ibarra, I think Klinsi is grooming them for CONCACAF qualification matches. Sure, we will bring technical players to the World Cup, but in the meantime, we need speedsters who can play well enough in a possession system but still allow the US to play run and gun.

 

If he goes the orthopedic surgeon route, the median compensation ranges from 320-415k depending on the source. Compares pretty favorably with an MLS career, although Morris might have Euro-salary potential and seems to have the type of educational background for a move into the sports executive ranks.

As an aside, I've always found the compensation in even the top medical professions (orthopedics, plastic surgery, radiology, etc.) less than compelling when compared with competing options in business or law. Horrible hours, indentured servitude pay in the intern phase and a serious cap on your upper income range.

 

I'm almost positive that college players cannot compete in USL without losing their eligibility. Until he goes pro, I think he's stuck playing for the Sounders u23 PDL squad in the summer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Sounders_FC_U-23

 

Let's set aside the argument he's better off from a soccer development perspective turning pro and playing MLS. We all agree there. But if he's going to continue to get full NT call ups, start and score vs Mexico, and just about be guaranteed a spot on the Olympic squad, all while playing at Stanford, where's the incentive to come out of school? Seattle is not going to offer him enough to budge.

I think the continued call ups, the start last night, and a guaranteed Olympic spot tells him precisely that he can have his cake and eat it too. Blame JK, but don't heap criticism on Jordan for being allowed to do exactly what he's doing. The message Jordan's getting right now is I can stay in school and continue to be well in the NT conversation.