Crew’s Morris out for season with torn ACL
Crew midfielder Aidan Morris will miss the rest of the 2021 season with a torn ACL, the club announced Saturday. The Crew learned the diagnosis after an MRI on Friday.
The club said Morris will undergo reconstruction surgery on his left knee and miss nine to 12 months.
Morris, 19, exited the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League round of 16 matchup against Real Esteli FC in the first half on Thursday.
Losing Morris leaves a sizeable hole in the Crew’s midfield depth. Morris started in both legs of Champions League while starting defensive midfielders Artur and Darlington Nagbe were limited or out with injury.
Morris was expected to play a significant role in his second professional season. The Crew Academy product had established himself as a reliable option off the bench behind Artur and Nagbe and would have likely received several starts in weeks with midweek games.
“Forget our season, forget all the selfish reasons you could be upset about it, I’m just sad for him because he was playing so well and he’s really starting to blossom right underneath our eyes,” coach Caleb Porter said. “Every game getting better, every training getting better.”
Morris played 360 minutes in 10 appearances with two starts during the 2020 regular season but made his first grand impression to the rest of the league in MLS Cup when he started for Nagbe, who was out with COVID-19. He is the youngest player to ever start in MLS Cup.
Without Morris, Porter will likely give veteran midfielder Perry Kitchen an even larger role. Kitchen, a perennial starter in MLS, signed as a free agent with the Crew in the offseason as additional depth to pair with Morris.
Homegrown rookie Isaiah Parente could also see more playing time. Parente, 20, signed with the Crew in the offseason after three seasons at Wake Forest. He made his professional debut at Real Esteli in the first leg, then started in Thursday’s game as the central attacking midfielder but moved to his usual defensive midfield role with Kitchen in the second half.
With Sebastian Berhalter on loan with Austin FC for the season, Porter could recall him, choose to add a lowcost fifth option for the rest of the season or stay put and potentially give Parente substantial game experience in his first season.
Morris has a significant recovery ahead, but at his age the Crew undoubtedly expects a full recovery.
“He’ll be back,” Porter said. “He’s pretty devastated right now. These injuries happen and we feel for him.”
Crew signs Abdul-salaam
The Crew signed seven-year MLS veteran and Gahanna High product Saad Abdul-salaam off the MLS waivers list.
At 6 feet 4, Abdul-salaam, 29, who won a state title at Gahanna with former Crew homegrown captain Wil Trapp, gives the Crew another option at right back or left back.
Porter recruited and signed Abdulsalaam at Akron in 2011 before Porter left at the end of the 2012 NCAA men’s soccer season for the Portland Timbers head coaching job. Abdul-salaam spent three seasons with Sporting Kansas City where he made 64 appearances and 46 starts.
Since then, Abdul-salaam has bounced around to three different teams and was not retained at the end of the 2020 season by FC Cincinnati, where he made just eight appearances in 2020.
He has made 94 career appearances with one goal and six assists. jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers