Jordan Morris on Seattle Sounders boss Brian Schmetzer: He's a player's coach

Seattle Sounders and US men's national team figure Jordan Morris was full of praise for head coach Brian Schmetzer and the undeniable impact he has on the west coast club.

When you've been in the dugout at one club for over seven seasons, you're clearly doing something right- and Schmetzer is no exception as he's lifted two MLS Cups and one Concacaf Champions League in his tenure with Seattle that dates back to August 2016.

But Morris, who notched 13 goals in 2023 as a striker, believes a lot of what makes Schmetzer such a great coach is that he understands what it means to lead the Sounders into battle on matchdays - as the 61-year-old is native of Seattle after all.

"So obviously, he's a kid from Seattle and knows what it means to represent the city and represent the club and so I think that's really important as a coach," Morris said in an exclusive interview with 90min.

Morris then dived deeper into how Schmetzer allows the Sounders' players to be creative on the field while also doing what he asks of them in his 4-2-3-1 system that propelled Seattle to a second place finish in the Western Conference in 2023.

"He's a player's coach, you know ... especially with the older guys, he kind of, you know, obviously  he has his ways, his tactics but he lets them express themselves on the field."

Morris, who has 11 goals in 55 caps for the USMNT, explained that Schmetzer is a coach who is more approachable than others, which isn't always seen in the realm of soccer and professional sports.

"I think he provides that freedom a little bit, which allows for some flair on the field within our  structure," Morris continued. "And I think he's an easy guy to talk to and approach if you have questions or anything like  that.

"So I would say he's definitely a player's coach, and for a lot of the guys, it's easy to play for someone like that."

The Sounders are known to be a team with incredible resilience under Schmetzer, which translates into second-half comebacks that kept the team in the running for the number one seed in the Western Conference as they fell just short to St Louis CITY in their inaugural seasons in the league.

"It obviously shows that his talks make an impact," Morris said of his coach's halftime speeches. "Yeah, definitely depends on how the game's going. Some of them can get intense. He's not really someone who loses his cool too much.

"Usually they're pretty [direct]. He has some things that he wants us to change and pretty direct and to the point. And, you know, for the most part, pretty positive. Obviously, everyone has moments where he gets into us and it lights a fire under us a little bit that we come out in the second half and do better as a group."

The Sounders kick off their 2024 MLS season on February 2024 against LAFC at BMO Stadium, pitting the two clubs together in a rematch of one half of the 2023 Western Conference semifinals where the Black and Gold triumphed 1-0.