Jordan Morris injury officially a “hamstring strain”

Seattle Sounders forward Jordan Morris had to be substituted at halftime. It was initially reported as a thigh injury by club staff, and head coach Brian Schmetzer said after the match that it was actually a hamstring strain. "That’s all I can say."

Schmetzer added that it was actually a last-minute decision by the training staff to take him off prior to the start of the second half. "So we had to scramble at the last minute and make the change."

Whether or not this affects Morris’ call-up to the US national team is undetermined as of now. Schmetzer said Morris will be evaluated by club medical staff, as well as US staff, before any decision can be made about the USMNT and their upcoming World Cup qualifying matches (Nov. 10 vs. Mexico and Nov. 15 Costa Rica). Schmetzer said the team isn’t taking the call-up lightly, and would assist US Soccer in assessing Morris’ fitness: "These games for the national team are really super important as well, so they wouldn’t want to take a player who might be injured and risk putting him in a game."

That the Sounders couldn’t definitively rule him out for the USMNT suggests there’s at least a decent chance he could be healthy in time for the Western Conference finals, which start on Nov. 22.

As for the other two substitutions for the Sounders, Nelson Valdez and Erik Friberg, both "were more just towards exhaustion and getting fresh bodies on the field." according to Schmetzer. Friberg’s late substitution seemed to mostly be due to exhaustion. Valdez apparently had a bit of a calf cramp. Schmetzer said the forward "might not be 90-minutes fit" right now.