Jordan Morris suffers ‘setback’ in latest return from injury

RENTON — After appearing to be on track to make his return this week against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Jordan Morris has been declared out for the match after suffering a “setback” during a training session, Seattle Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said on Friday.

Morris had been a full training participant for about a week until he pulled himself out of training on Thursday. Schmetzer was not yet aware of how long Morris would be out, but he did indicate that it seemed to be a re-aggravation of the hamstring injury that has forced the forward to miss 12 of the past 14 games.

Schmetzer indicated that Morris could potentially return in time for the Club World Cup that runs June 14-July 13, but emphasized that getting him back quickly is less important than keeping him on the field for the longer term.

“It’s more precautionary as of this moment,” Schmetzer said. “But I’m not going to risk anything. He wants to play. He’s desperate to play. He’s been out a long time, but we are going to make sure that he is 100% ready to go before he steps back on the field.

“I told Jordan this yesterday, ‘When you’re ready, no pressure, just when you’re ready to play, you jump back on field. Simple as that. Whether that’s Botafogo, Atletico, PSG, Austin, I don’t care. When you’re ready to play, then we’ll put you back out on the field.’”

A similar approach is being taken with centerbacks Yeimar Gomez-Andrade (hamstring) and Kim Kee-hee (calf).

Kim has progressed to the point that he was outside doing some workouts and Yeimar seems to be making a case to get back on the field for the Club World Cup, but neither are currently ready to play and Schmetzer isn’t inclined to rush them back even if that hurts the Sounders’ performance at the Club World Cup.

“We’ve got a couple of guys that really want to play in the Club World Cup,” Schmetzer said. “I totally get that. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play against a European Champions League winner.

“But what’s most important is making sure that we are good for the remainder of the year. What’s really most important is that we make good decisions.”

A key part of that, Schmetzer said, is for the players to be honest with both themselves and the training staff.

“If Yeimar can get up to speed for Atletico, great, good for him,” Schmetzer said. “But I don’t want him to not tell us that he’s feeling something because he wants to play and then he goes out and reinjures himself. There has to be trust in communication with the medical staff and the players and then I will reserve the right to have final say in certain things.”

Other centerback issues

Jackson Ragen and Jon Bell are both fit and potentially ready to go a full 90 minutes, but the depth beyond them is shallow at best. Although Stuart Hawkins has rejoined the Sounders after a short stint with the USA U19s, that was only because he felt some discomfort in his quadricep. Schmetzer said Hawkins was questionable for the Whitecaps match. That might leave Cody Baker as the next centerback option off the bench.

Baker came through the Sounders Academy mostly as a centerback, but has just two starts there, both for the Tacoma Defiance, during the last five seasons.

“We’re a little short,” Schmetzer quipped when asked about centerback depth. “I’m confident that Jackson and Jonathan can do the job, and if we need an emergency situation, we’ll figure it out.”

Forward decisions

In Morris’ absence, both Danny Musovski and Jesús Ferreira have filled in to various degrees of effectiveness. Musovski has five goals and an an assist in his last nine appearances, while Ferreira scored his first goal of the season in his most recent start.

Schmetzer seemed to indicate that Ferreira will get the start against the Whitecaps, noting that Musovski has cooled off a bit after his run of scoring in five consecutive games.

“He shot up like a rocket, and then he kind of plateaued,” Schmetzer said. “My challenge to him is, you have to keep the steady climb.

“We talked about it. He’s thinking about it. He’s our second-leading goal scorer. He’s helped us a lot.”