STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford sophomore forward Jordan Morris was among 19 players called to the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team for the 2015 Toulon Tournament, which runs from May 27-June 7 in the south of France, by head coach Andi Herzog on Sunday afternoon.
Herzog will make one addition to complete the 20-player roster, which will officially be submitted on Tuesday evening.
“Toulon is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world at this age level, and we’re fortunate to have the opportunity to compete against some of the top teams in the world,” said Herzog. “Having seen matches here many times before, I know the type of talent we will face. This is huge for us as we get ready for qualification this October, and is another step in the development of our players in international competition.”
Morris will be making his second journey to the Toulon Tournament, which in France has been called le lieu où naissent les étoiles, the place where stars are born. Stanford’s 2014 NSCAA/Continental Tire First Team All-American represented the United States at the event in 2013, when it sent the U-20 MNT which finished seventh. Morris is one of seven players on this U.S. roster returning for the 2015 edition of the Toulon Tournament.
Always a gathering of the world’s top soccer powers, this year’s 43rd Toulon Tournament features regular competitors Netherlands, England and host France, as well as Costa Rica, China, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Mexico, Qatar and the USA. Comprised of two five-team groups, the United States is with Costa Rica, France, Netherlands and Qatar in Group A. Group B consists of China, England, Ivory Coast, Mexico and Morocco. The top teams from each group will meet in the final on June 7, and the second-place teams from each group will play for third place that day.
Morris has scored in two consecutive games at the U-23 level. On March 27 in Tuzla, he scored the opening goal in the U-23 MNT’s 5-2 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nearly a month later, he capped off a dominant week against Mexico by scoring in a 3-0 win on April 22 at StubHub Center in Carson, California. Morris is the leading goal scorer on this roster. He has scored twice in 2015 and overall in his four-game career with the U-23’s he has scored three times.
The sophomore burst onto the international stage on April 15, when he started and scored in the 49th minute for the U.S. Men’s National Team against archrival Mexico in a 2-0 victory at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The Mercer Island, Washington native is thought to be the first collegian to score for the U.S. since Mike Sorber in September 1992. He’s the third player with Stanford ties to start for the USMNT and first since Chad Marshall did so on Jan. 23, 2010 against Honduras in Carson, California. Marshall started 11 times for his country in three different years (2005, 2009 and 2010). Todd Dunivant started twice in 2006.
Morris is also the sixth U.S. national team player to score his first career goal against Mexico, joining Josh Wolff, Jimmy Conrad, Jozy Altidore, Michael Orozco and Landon Donovan.
On March 31, Morris made his second appearance with the Senior Team when he came on in the 89th minute against 12th-ranked Switzerland at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich. Last November, he became the first active collegian since 1995 to receive a cap for the USMNT when he came on in the 76th minute in a friendly against Ireland in Dublin. An earlier call up to the national team camp for its Sept. 3 friendly against the Czech Republic in Prague made him the first current collegian to join the USMNT in 15 years.
In late March, Morris was among 18 players called to Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina by for the U-23s first training camp of 2015. He scored the opening goal against Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 27 before he was elevated to the USMNT for the aforementioned match with Switzerland.
He also made two other appearances with the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team at camps in Nassau, Bahamas (Aug. 3-7, 2014) and Brasilia, Brazil (Oct. 10-13, 2014). The trip to Nassau featured a match against the Bahamas Senior National Team, a 5-1 U.S. win in which Morris’ header in the 58th minute broke a 1-1 deadlock.
The Toulon event will play a part in the team’s continued preparations for the 2015 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship, which will be played in the United States from Oct. 1-13.
Roster By Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton; Maple Grove, Minn.), Charlie Horton (Cardiff City; Cleveland, Ohio), Tyler Miller (Zweibrücken; Woodbury, N.J.)
DEFENDERS (7): Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Alebrijes de Oaxaca; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), William Packwood (Unattached; Concord, Mass.), Jalen Robinson (D.C. United; Catonsville, Md.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Sam Strong (Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (4): Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes; Northville, Mich.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Daniel Metzger (Unattached; Holmdel, N.J.), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool; Sunnyvale, Calif.)
FORWARDS (5): Julian Green (Bayern Munich; Tampa, Fla.); Alonso Hernandez (C.F. Monterrey; El Paso, Tex.), Jerome Kiesewetter (Stuttgart; Berlin, Germany), Alfred Koroma Shams (Southlake Carol, Texas), Jordan Morris (Stanford; Mercer Island, Wash.).