Sounders rookie Jordan Morris fails to impress in club debut

Standout rookie Jordan Morris made his club debut for the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday in a preseason match in Tucson, Ariz., against Mexican second-division outfit Celaya FC.

But the highly touted prospect failed to make much of an impression after entering the match in the second half, prompting Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid to defend the U.S. international after his first game in rave green.

"He's new to our team," Schmid said after the match. "He's never played with our team before. He's never even really trained with our team. It's asking a lot from him."

The Sounders dropped the match 2-1, with Schmid denouncing his team's play. "I thought the first 20, 25 minutes, we were horrible," he said.

It's not the kind of thing a player wants to hear from his manager, but for Schmid, the extended trip away from home might just explain the lackluster showing across the board.

"You're at the end of a long stay," Schmid said. "Everybody wants to get home and leave Tucson. No offense to Tucson, but we've been here for a long time, 10 days. We could tell in the locker room before the game that mentally, they were checked out. We were hoping it wouldn't take something for them to wake up."