‘Tough pill to swallow’: Morris frustrated not to be at Olympics

SEATTLE – If Jordan Morris had his way, he’d have been in France enjoying the Olympics Opening Day festivities with his U.S. Soccer teammates on Friday. Instead, he was playing a Leagues Cup match with the Seattle Sounders.

The match went reasonably well. Morris had the game-winning goal and then added an assist. The Sounders beat Minnesota United 2-0.

But Morris wasn’t in much of a celebratory mood. After his goal, he barely even cracked a smile.

Whether or not his outward display of emotion was directly related, Morris made it clear he has been carrying a degree of frustration with him for at least a couple of weeks. That’s when he found out the Sounders and U.S. Soccer failed to come to a compromise over his release date for the Olympics.

“It’s a disappointing one,” Morris said. “I was so excited. I grew up watching the Olympics. To be able to say I was an Olympian the rest of my life, to tell my kid I was an Olympian would have been incredible.”

Although U.S. Soccer had been claiming that they had been in touch with potential overage players throughout the process, Morris said he was contacted “out of the blue” about going to Paris only a couple of weeks before the roster was announced. Still, Morris was ecstatic to get the call from Olympics head coach Marko Marovic about being involved.

This was the first time the United States men had qualified for the Olympics since 2008 and Morris had actually played a significant role in one of those squads that fell just short. Ahead of the 2016 Olympics, Morris scored three goals in the Concacaf qualifying tournament where the United States finished third. That set up a qualifier against Colombia for a final spot. The USA lost 3-2 over two legs.

Since the Olympics are an age-restricted tournament — only three players older than 23 are allowed on each roster — few players are afforded do-overs. Morris could hardly believe he was one of the few who would. Making the situation all the more frustrating was knowing that good friend Walker Zimmerman — who also played on that 2016 qualifying team — was going to be on the roster, too.

Morris made sure the Sounders understood his position.

“I went in right away, expressed my desire to go,” Morris said. “It’s something I absolutely want to do. I know it puts you in a bit of a tough spot, but maybe felt like I earned that a little bit to ask. In the end, it was out of my control. They wanted me to stay here.”

The root of the problem was that since the Olympics are not governed by FIFA, the Sounders are under no obligation to release Morris. Even in Europe where most teams are in preseason, it’s more common than not to refuse the release of first-team players and almost unheard of to allow starters to go to the Olympics.

It’s a little different in the United States where MLS teams have more enthusiastically supported the Olympics effort. Of the 22 players named to the core roster and alternates, 13 play in MLS. That includes all three overage players as well as Morris’ Sounders teammate Josh Atencio.

The Sounders wanted to work with U.S. Soccer and suggested a compromise: Rather than releasing Morris for two full weeks of pre-Olympics training, they would let him go for a week. That would allow them to keep Morris for a pair of important regular-season matches against Austin FC and St. Louis City, but would allow him to miss the LAFC match as well as most, if not all, of Leagues Cup.

U.S. Soccer was only interested if they could have Morris for the entire time. One Sounders source said he was told by U.S. Soccer that if they let Morris report late, they’d have to make similar accommodations for the other overage players. As it turned out, they were willing to let Miles Robinson remain with FC Cincinnati for an additional week, however. In Robinson’s case, they may have been more willing to be flexible as he had also been with the USA at the Copa America earlier this summer. As it turned out, Robinson also got red-carded in his first game back with FC Cincinnati, allowing him to join the USA for the entire two weeks of training. Djorde Mihalovic — coincidentally another of Morris’ good friends — took the third overage spot.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Morris said. “Having a chance to represent my country at the Olympics is a dream every kid has. To have that be so close and have that taken away is a tough pill to swallow. But I’m here now and not letting it affect my play and I’m trying to help this team win trophies.”

In the four games that Morris has now played with the Sounders that he’d otherwise have missed, he has two goals and an assist while helping his team go 3-1-0.

Morris said he can understand the Sounders’ position, and seems to be taking it in stride. But that doesn’t mean he’s happy.

“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in the Olympics,” Morris said. “I was part of a cycle that didn’t qualify. After the game I remember being so devastated because that was my one chance. To have another shot and to have it turned down is tough pill to swallow. I think that’s one that I’ll look back on at the end of my career and feel disappointed that I wasn’t part of that group.”