Jordan Morris is well aware of the hype that surrounds him and knows that everything he does will continue to be highly scrutinized. And the Seattle Sounders striker is trying his best to deal with such lofty expectations, even if it sometimes seems silly to him and his family.
Such is the main theme of a well-written New York Times feature by Sam Borden, who opens his piece by describing, in wonderful detail, the amount of eye-rolling Morris and the Sounders brass do when people label him as the next great American soccer star.
Perhaps his dad, Mike, put it best, trying to temper any unreasonable expectations by saying that “we just want him to have a long, successful, healthy professional career. Would that be so bad?”
At the same time, the 21-year-old is not necessarily running away from the considerable hype. And it’s something his coach and teammates think he has the temperament to handle with Herculez Gomez remarking, “He doesn’t think he’s done anything. And to me, that’s the best sign yet.”
Morris, a leading MLS Rookie of the Year candidate, scored his ninth goal of the season in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Portland.
After missing out on Copa America Centenario, the rookie was called up to the US national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers vs. St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday (3:30 pm ET, beIN Sports) and Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday (8 pm ET, FS1, UniMás).
