#3 Jordan Morris
Jordan Morris is not a familiar name outside the United States but he has already staked a claim for being the most important player for a Seattle Sounders squad consisting of American legend Clint Dempsey.
The 22-year-old, originally from Mercer Island, Washington has had a fantastic youth career. For Eastside FC, he was a part of six Washington State titles in seven years. In 2011 and 2012’s US Youth Soccer National Championship, his team placed third while he personally was named in the Best XI in 2011 and won the Golden Ball in 2012. He eventually went on and won Stanford University the Pac-12 and NCAA Tournament along with being awarded the Hermann Trophy 10 months ago.
Also read: 5 best young talents from the Netherlands
Morris had a trial with Werder Bremen in January and declined their offer to play for his hometown Seattle. Despite a poor start to life with the Sounders, he burst into life in April scoring in five consecutive games and despite a vital injury to center back Roman Torres and Clint Dempsey’s unavailability due to Copa America and his heart ailment, he along with new signing Nicolas Lodeiro inspired Seattle to a playoff run.
(Video courtesy: Major League Soccer)
Currently, Seattle is in the Conference Finals and will vie with Colorado for a spot in the finals. The most impressive feat is that he received his first call-up to the USMNT when he was in college, the first player to do so in the 21st century and he even scored a goal on his debut against Mexico.
Although Morris wasn’t old enough to be awarded the Man of the Match prize due to him being legally too young to drink alcohol, there will be many more awards to savour for the striker.
