Morris adds Gold Cup to NCAA and MLS titles
SANTA CLARA » Bruce Arena found Jordan Morris not long after the final whistle blew to offer some encouraging words to the U.S. forward, who had just helped deliver another CONCACAF Gold Cup title.
Arena learned a little more about the young American in one half of soccer that began with a costly mistake and finished with a spectacular strike.
“I said, ‘You made up for the goal you gave away for us.’ And then I said, ‘You hit that ball pretty good,’” the U.S. coach recalled. “Those kind of moments are important for a player. That’s a big step he took tonight, so I’m real pleased with that.”
The former star at nearby Stanford scored a tiebreaking goal in the 88th minute, lifting the United States past Jamaica 2-1 on Wednesday night for the Americans’ sixth Gold Cup title and first since 2013.
In a span of 19 months, Morris has won an NCAA title in 2015 with Stanford, scoring the first two goals in a 4-0 rout of Clemson; won the 2016 MLS Cup for his hometown Seattle Sounders, who beat Toronto on penalty kicks; and now added a Gold Cup medal to his growing collection.
“Some of those still haven’t set in,” he said. “It’s pretty special to be part of three great teams. It’s awesome to be part of championships because they don’t come around too often. It’s very exciting.”
Morris’ goal came after he lost his mark on JeVaughn Watson, who evened the score in the 50th minute with a 4-yard volley off Kemar Lawrence’s corner kick.
“It definitely lingers around a little bit. To be honest, I’ve never really had anything like that in my career where I was kind of at fault for the other team scoring like that,” Morris said. “It was tough to get over, especially in such a big game. My teammates were great and for me. It just helped to keep pushing forward and try to make a difference. It was a sense of relief almost that I could try and make up for my mistake.”
Morris got mad. teammates all saw it.
And they appreciated seeing those emotions from a guy who doesn’t always show them.
“He’s a strong boy, mentally and physically,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “You could see disappointment on his face after the goal. On defensive set pieces people get lost in the shuffle You get picked off sometimes, His that happens. You can’t really point the finger and blame. But look, you saw it on his face. He was annoyed.”
Senior FIFA VP Villar resigns
GENEVA » The corruption crisis in world soccer has removed another top FIFA official.
Jailed in Spain on suspicion of financial wrongdoing as head of the Spanish football federation, Angel Maria Villar has resigned his top positions at FIFA and European governing body UEFA.
FIFA confirmed Thursday that Villar resigned as its senior vice president. That followed UEFA’s announcement he had left its executive committee after 25 years. He was suspended as Spanish federation president on Tuesday amid a criminal investigation into allegations of corruption.