RENTON — It would be a bit of an understatement to suggest that Jordan Morris’ season has fallen a bit short of expectations. Fresh off triggering a performance clause in his contract that made him a Designated Player through the 2027 season, Morris has suffered a series of injuries that put him on pace to play by far the fewest minutes of any of the eight professional seasons that weren’t effectively taken away by his two ACL injuries.
Now mostly recovered from the latest injury — a shoulder separation that forced him to miss nearly two months — Morris is hoping to work himself back into form and fitness as the Sounders enter the final few weeks of the regular season and prepare for the MLS playoffs.
Morris has now appeared in four consecutive games, coming off the bench in the first three and playing the first half of the Sounders’ most recent game against the Vancouver Whitecaps. His performances have been a mixed bag. He has picked up an assist and gotten himself into dangerous spots, but hasn’t scored since setting the Sounders’ all-time goal record back in March.
“There are things I need to clean up and keep working on,” Morris said this week. “Obviously, it’s been a rough year. I’m just happy to be back out there and looking forward to what I can bring the team going forward.”
As good as Danny Musovski has been — he’s now on 16 goals across all competitions — getting Morris close to his peak is what will give the Sounders their best chance at making a postseason run.
It’s worth noting that prior to his most recent spate of injuries, Morris was enjoying a stellar season. Morris had four goals in his first nine MLS appearances and even now is averaging .68 goals per 90, which would be a career high. He’s also averaging .85 goals and assists per 90, just .04 less than 2020 when he was an MVP finalist. At .89 xG+xA per 90, he’s in the 97th percentile among forwards. By just about any metric, Morris is living up to his DP tag whenever he’s been on the field.
The Sounders face the Portland Timbers on Saturday. Purely from a math perspective, this is nothing like a must-win game. The Sounders are effectively locked into finishing somewhere between fifth and seventh, and they’ll continue to control their own destiny as long as they get at least a point.
But this is important statement match not just for the Sounders, but for Morris.
The Seattle native has only scored one goal in 19 career matches against the Timbers. The Sounders haven’t beaten the Timbers in the regular season at Lumen Field since 2017. It’s time to get those monkeys off their back.
