Sounders at SKC, Abstract: Fourdan Morris

The Sounds came back from an early deficit to blow SKC 4-1.

• by
  
  Tim Voss
  

• on March 25, 2023 8:23 PM

Punish the Seattle Sounders Sporting Kansas City On Saturday, they unleashed a Hurricane named Jordan Morris on their way to a 4-1 win.

SKC took an early lead, with Willy Agada scoring a rebound off a Stefan Frei save in the fifth minute. After some early dominance from Kansas City, the Sounders clawed their way into the game.

In the 23rd minute Morris put Seattle on the board and tied the score. Nico Lodeiro played a ball in behind Graham Zusi for Léo Chú, who worked his way around the defender and found Morris with an early cross that completely split the SKC centre-back and goalkeeper and Morris slid inside the net to volley into the net. The Sounders continued to press for the second goal as the half progressed, but the two teams went into halftime tied at 1-1.

Less than 10 minutes into the second period, Chu and Morris combined again to give Seattle the lead. Pressure from Yeimar kept KC pinned at their end after a Seattle free kick and eventually forced an errant pass that was intercepted by Joao Paulo, who found Cho in the top of the box. Cho pulled the defenders back before finding Morris with a small slippery ball to put him back and Morris took care of the rest.

In the 69th minute, Morris’s hat-trick wrapped up nicely, connecting with a Nico Lodero cross into the far corner to once again beat John Bolskamp and give Seattle a two-goal lead against 10-man SKC.

Morris would score a fourth, finishing off another Chu cross to give the winger his third assist and put an exclamation mark on Seattle’s first road win of the season.

5′- SKC opened the scoring, with Frei sprinting to his right for a save but William Agada being the first on the rebound and shooting it into the net. 1-0 SKC

23 ‘- Maurice connects it! Chú takes a good touch past the defender and slots an early shot across Morris, who slides in to put it in for the first time behind John Bolskamp. 1-1

27′- Seattle drives towards Sporting’s goal. Nico Lodero plays the ball up the middle that Morris cuts to Albert Rusnak, but he can’t keep his shot from the top of the box down.

54 ‘- Maurice again! And again, it’s Cho’s help! This time, a spin driven by Yeimar’s pressure leads to a clever sliding pass and a perfect finish. 2-1 sounding

59 ‘- Cho nearly scores a goal of his own, jumping in from about 20 yards out on a breakaway, but Bolskamp flicks it over the crossbar.

63′ – SKC went down to 10 men after Ben Sweat, who had already picked up a yellow card, lined up Chú and brought him out in midfield to prevent a breakaway and get a second yellow.

69 ‘- Maurice again!!! Another sliding ball from Cho puts Ludero into space on the left and Morris meets a cross into the far corner to finish off another first! 3-1 sounding

77 ‘- Again, again, again. Jordan Morris is unstoppable, and once again Cho is up with the service to set him up. 4-1

89 ‘- Stefan Frei made a big save to keep Seattle’s three-goal lead, volleying wide into the top corner.

Liu Zhu’s next concert: Morris will deservedly get the bulk of the praise for his four-goal performance – a first for the happiest in MLS – but Chú’s performance deserves some flowers, too. He assisted on three of Morris’ four goals, and was a key part of the other as he set up his chipped-out pass to Lodeiro for the third. He also forced quality saves that looked good from range, went 2-for-3 in tackles, and won 5 of 9 duels. He’s earned praise from Brian Schmitzer throughout his youth season, and against a team that’s caused problems for Seattle over the years and taken an early lead, he put it all together in a near-perfect performance. If this is the player Chú has become, the Sounders could have two of the best left wingers in the league.

Yegin? rajmar? The Sounders seem locked in their own CB pair of Yeimar and Jackson Ragen. After five games, the team has only given up two goals – and, to be fair, Ragin should have been more aware of their bounce on goal today – and their comfort on the ball and ability to find teammates was an important part of Seattle’s approach. Against SKC, two of the CB players completed a total of 93 out of 100 passes, and Ragen had a 100% completion rate on his 47 passes. The tandem is getting better together, and it’s probably worth coining the famous couple’s name sooner rather than later.

legit, elite, ludero: Nico Lodero is credited with only one assist from this, but weeks after Jeremiah Ocean assured us all that Lodero looked to be back in top shape, he had an absolute gem in the game on the road against SKC. He created two chances, recorded 11 passes in the final third, completed 48 of 57 passes, and went 4-for-4 and 8-for-8 in tackles and duels, respectively. It looked like Lodeiro might have entered the twilight of his career at times last season, but so far in 2023 he looks more than deserving of a certain focal point as the No. 10 player. He may rule for the long haul.

More, more, Maurice! Jordan Morris stepped forward with Heber still coming back from injury and Raúl Ruidiaz away with the Peruvian national team, and while some may have questioned the move before the match, no one questioned Schmitzer’s decision in the aftermath. Morris was absolutely unstoppable in his career with four goals and also created four chances to achieve his goals. His hat (with a few feathers) was his second trick for the Sounders, and the first time Sounder had scored four goals in an MLS game. He now stands alone at the front of the Golden Boot race with seven goals, having more than doubled his impressive output during the first four games of the season.

Four goals. This is a hat-trick plus one. It’s two parentheses.

Keep counting, Jordan.

264 – The last time the Seattle Sounders won an MLS game on the road was on July 4, 2022, 264 days before this win.

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