ORLANDO, Fla. — Less than a week after hoisting the MLS Cup, two members of the freshly-crowned league champions Seattle Sounders are back playing for their country, ready to pitch in on their next challenge.
Both Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan are less than three days removed from drinking out of the MLS Cup and celebrating with their teammates in Seattle after they took down Toronto FC 3-1 on Sunday, a game in which both Morris and Roldan featured heavily. Less than 24 hours after Sunday’s final whistle, the two jumped on a plane to fly across the country to Orlando as the US national team prepare to face Canada on Friday in Concacaf Nations League action (7 pm ET | ESPN2, UniMás, TUDN in US; OneSoccer.ca in Canada).
For Morris, the championship win has only fueled his competitive spirit even more and he hopes to have it carry over to his performance with the national team over the next two games.
“It’s just part of the deal, part of the job,” said Morris after US training Tuesday. “It’s such an honor to be here, you can never take these opportunities for granted. I think it’s easy to move on, maybe gives you a little confidence coming into a game like this when you win a big championship like that.”
Morris, who has scored 15 goals and 12 assists for club and country combined this year, will look to help lead a depleted USMNT offense missing star playmaker Christian Pulisic due to injury.
In the midfield, Roldan will look to ride his own wave of success after a six-goal, five-assist season with Seattle. He now looks forward to potentially making his 19th appearance for the Stars and Stripes.
After the whirlwind of the past week, both Seattle stars say they’re focused on the task at hand and looking forward to getting some payback against Canada, who ended a 34-year winless streak against the USMNT with last month’s 2-0 win in Toronto.
“We know how important this game is on Friday and I think we’re all excited to get a chance to play them again so soon,” said Morris. “Obviously, it’s great, guys are coming in with confidence, playing well and it’s going to be a good one.”
