On Monday's episode of MLS Today, MLSsoccer.com's Susannah Collins and Calen Carr discussed Jordan Morris' evolution into one of the most reliable players for the Seattle Sounders and US men's national team.
And for Carr, Morris' maturation may be have come in part from the ACL tear that wiped out his 2018 season.
"He has the same speed, he has the same strength, he actually looks stronger then he did going into (the injury)," Carr said. "But I think he’s talked about appreciating being on the field more. And sometimes the game can actually slow down (for) you when you step back onto the pitch after you’ve seen it from a different perspective."
Morris suffered the injury playing during the 2018 Concacaf Champions League before the MLS campaign began. He returned for the start of 2019, but really began to take that summer. He now has 12 goals and eight assists over his last 22 MLS regular season and playoff matches, in the process influencing Seattle's run to the 2019 MLS Cup.
At age 25, Morris remains one of the more physically gifted players in the USMNT pool, but Carr believes he's added a thoughtfulness to his game.
"Especially for players with speed, sometimes it’s all going so fast, and early on in his career he was able to use that speed," Carr said. "But (now) he’s been able to control it, where he doesn’t need to beat the guy and just completely annihilate him. He’s getting to the endline, but then he’s slowing down and picking his head up and finding the right pass, or the cutback ball, or whether he’s going to try to lift it or lob it. And so I think Jordan has matured as a person and as a player."
