Jordan Morris looks strong in first USMNT cap in over two years

Jordan Morris earned his first United States national team cap in more than two years on Saturday, starting and playing 78 minutes on the wing in a 1-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cristian Roldan also started, playing 90 minutes as one of the two 8s in Gregg Berhalter’s 4-3-3.

Although it was a rather muted performance overall — especially after Bosnia was forced to play a man down for about 50 minutes — Morris was one of the USMNT’s bright spots. In just his fourth competitive appearance since returning from an ACL injury that sidelined him for nine months, Morris was probably the USMNT’s most proactive player and was regularly in the middle of dangerous chances.

More than he had in his three appearances for the Sounders, Morris looked more like his pre-injury self. He repeatedly used his patented push-and-chase move to create space from his defender and was able to get off several promising crosses from either side of the field.

Morris’ most dangerous moment came in the 31st minute when Jesus Ferreira found him with a well-placed cross to the back post. Morris attacked it aggressively and made solid contact on a header, but hit it a little too close to the Bosnia goalkeeper who was able to keep it out with a kick save.

Roldan, who had shared some frustrations at his role within the USMNT earlier in the week, got a rare extended look in the midfield. While he did not have as many standout moments as Morris, Roldan was solid, albeit against what was essentially a U-23 opponent.

Based on FotMob’s methodology, Roldan actually had the USMNT’s second-best performance. Roldan completed 85% of his 68 passes, won 6 of 9 duels, had two tackles and eight recoveries.