U.S. Soccer has nominated Seattle Sounders forwards Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris for 2016 Male Player of the Year and Young Male Player of the Year, respectively.
Winners for the Male and Young Male awards will be announced on Friday, Dec. 9, during the MLS Cup preview show at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.
Dempsey joins Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Geoff Cameron and Bobby Wood as the nominees for the federation's top male award, while Morris joins Andrew Carleton, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Christian Pulisic and Josh Sargent for the award for the top young player.
The Seattle Sounders will visit Altidore and Bradley’s Toronto FC team in the 2016 MLS Cup at BMO Field in Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Dec. 10 (5 p.m. PT; FOX, TSN, UniMas, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM).
Votes were collected from national team coaches and staff, national team players who have earned a cap in 2016, members of the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors, U.S. Soccer’s Athlete Council, professional soccer league coaches, select college coaches and select media members. The current voting format has been in place since 2014.
Dempsey recorded three goals and three assists for the USMNT in 2016, including the game-winner against Paraguay in the Copa America Centenario. He has previously won three U.S. Soccer Player of the Year awards, his first in 2007 and then back-to-back in 2011-12. He is one of only three players to earn the honor at least three times, along with former Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller (1997, 1999, 2005) and four-time winner Landon Donovan (2003-04, 2009-10).
Altidore earned the award in 2013, while Bradley is the reigning U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year. Altidore (2006) and Bradley (2007) each won Young Male Player of the Year as well.
Morris earned five caps in 2016. He was called into former U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s Columbus, Ohio, camp ahead of the first two Hexagonal World Cup Qualifiers in November, but he was sent home after being diagnosed with a hamstring strain suffered against FC Dallas in MLS’ Western Conference Semifinals.
Former Sounders defender DeAndre Yedlin was named Young Male Player of the Year in 2014.
