The 29-year-old Morris has seen it all in his career, and he made it clear he's not done yet
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Jordan Morris wants to make one thing very clear. He doesn’t care what people think about his career, or the fact that the majority of it has been spent in MLS. For him, he’s proud of what he’s accomplished with his hometown Seattle Sounders – two MLS Cups and 66 goals in 192 MLS appearances.
“I think people doubt the level of MLS and need to kind of change their mindset in that sense because the league's growing. It's a tough league, and you see the players coming in, I think it deserves a lot more respect than it gets,” Morris told GOAL. “And then you see with the growth of the league to the growth of the talent. It's a difficult league to play in, and I think it deserves a lot more respect than it gets, because it's growing.”
For Morris, his main two focuses are family and securing another shot to make a dream become a reality – earning a spot on the U.S. men's national team 2026 World Cup roster. With Morris in the middle of a career year, notching a personal best of 17 goals in 37 overall appearances, he is certainly making his case.
“I feel like I'm pretty much playing some of the best soccer in my career right now,” Morris said. “So yeah, the goal is to for sure get back, to try to be part of the World Cup team. I'm always pushing to be a part of that group. Obviously, I know the quality of players that are there, so it's difficult, but I'll always keep pushing it to the back of my head. It's what motivates me to keep going, keep scoring goals, to try to get back to being part of that group because obviously, I was able to do it for a while.”
For the latest Wednesday Convo, a weekly Q and A with central figures in North American soccer, Morris discusses a career that has been filled with highs and lows, being a new dad and the possibility of playing again in Europe.
ImagnWhat has it meant for you to be in your ninth year as a Sounder?
Morris: “Obviously, it's special for me, being from Seattle, being a hometown kid, you know, going from being a fan to being down on the field playing, and it was a dream of mine for a long time to play for the Sounders. I’ve spent most of my career here, had some success in terms of winning trophies and obviously scoring goals and getting to live out my childhood dream.
"It's been a dream come true, but it's been really cool. It's a very special, special thing that not a lot of people get to experience.”
AdvertisementYou’ve mentioned being a hometown kid, is there any added value in being close to family?
"I’m a family guy, and my wife, we actually went to high school together, but she's a Seattle girl as well. Our families are here, we just had our first kid last year, and so for me, you know, growing up here, and now my extended family, with my wife and her family, they are here as well.
"Obviously, Seattle is so important for us as a family, and having our kid grow up here now, it's just cool to have all that you know come to fruition, while also playing for the Sounders and the team that I grew up supporting… My parents are still in the same childhood home that I grew up in, so it's cool to juggle back and visit them and kind of relive that childhood a bit. But, yeah, obviously it means a ton to us. It's an amazing place to raise a family."
GettyWhat has fatherhood meant to you?
"It’s the best, honestly. I mean, obviously it comes with work, but we're so blessed. We're so lucky. He's an amazing kid. For me, I think part of, I think my success too, is the freedom that having a kid has brought me, you know, before soccer weighed so heavily on me, and I don't think I did a great job at letting things go.
"I’ve felt this kind of new freedom on the field, because it really puts into perspective what's important in life, and obviously our job is win games, my job is to score goals, and that's still going to be the goal every single time I step on the field, but I play with more freedom now, knowing that I have him back home."
ImagnYou were the the first player since 1999 to get a call-up from college. How did you feel in that moment?
"It was a crazy experience. You know, I wasn't really part of any youth national team, pretty much at all growing up. So I didn't have a ton of experience with the national program. I would say I was a late bloomer. We had a scrimmage against the national team when they came to Stanford to train before the World Cup and I had a good game and kind of caught Jurgen’s eye (Klinsmann).
"It was a pretty interesting way to get my first call up. But, yeah, I got called up to the first camp after the World Cup…What an experience for me to kind of go from nothing, to playing for the full national team, getting to score against Mexico while still in college. I mean, it was obviously incredible."
