by A.J. Coltrane
On Monday night the Sounders advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a tense 0-0 tie at CenturyLink. (No, really. It was *tense*.) The Sounders will play the Galaxy on the 23rd and 30th. The winner goes to the actual Finals.
Which makes this next bit interesting to me: The U.S. squad has a couple of friendlies coming up,
The U.S. takes on No. 3-ranked Colombia on Friday at 2:45 p.m. ET in London at Craven Cottage with more than 20,000 tickets already sold. On Nov. 18, the U.S. team will play Ireland for the first time since 2002 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, beginning at 2:45 p.m. ET.
Dempsey was left off the squad. DeAndre Yedlin is making the trip, though it looks like he’ll have time for adequate rest before the games with the Galaxy.
The U.S. roster:
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: DaMarcus Beasley (Houston Dynamo), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Greg Garza (Club Tijuana), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders FC)
Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Julian Green (Hamburg), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Jordan Morris (Stanford), Rubio Rubin (Utrecht), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
One name on the list sticks out – Stanford student Jordan Morris. I figured I’d look into whatever his story is a little bit.
As it turns out he’s a 20 year-old member of the Seattle Sounders Academy. He was born in Seattle and graduated from Mercer Island High. He’s a sophomore at Stanford — bio is here.
I think it’s pretty cool that the Sounders Academy has produced two potential National Team members in a short period of time. Here’s hoping that the Northwest will continue to represent a rich pipeline of talent, and that it will funnel through the Sounders.
FlatbreadGarden 
Nobody from the Galaxy on the US squad.
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As a flat guess, MLS, the Sounders, and Clint asked that he not have to attend these friendlies. I doubt it impacts his potential inclusion on the next World Cup roster.
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Here it is:
“The exclusion resulted from a conversation between Klinsmann and Dempsey’s club coach, Sigi Schmid.
“I was aware of it,” Schmid said after the Seattle Sounders’ 0-0 draw against FC Dallas on Monday. “Jurgen and I had spoken. Clint’s had a long season. Clint’s been playing since January, when he went to Fulham [on loan]. For him, it’s been 11 months of games, so I expressed that to Jurgen. Jurgen understood, and so he didn’t include him.””
http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014/11/11/clint-dempsey-exclusion-usmnt-november-call-ups
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