Jozy Altidore will never forget the first time he played against Seattle Sounders forward Jordan Morris, Major League soccer’s newly-minted rookie of the year.

It was before the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the United States men’s team was in California to play Stanford University in a closed-door match to prepare for the big tournament. Morris was in the lineup for the Cardinal and his performance stuck with Altidore.

“He was great against us. We beat them like six or seven or eight to one but he scored the goal and I remember looking over at [former national team assistant coach] Andi Herzog and said, ‘Is it too late to bring this guy, bring him along with us to Brazil?” the Toronto FC striker said Saturday.

Altidore is hoping Morris won’t be that good this weekend, when he and his Sounders teammates are in Toronto for the MLS Cup final.

Morris, who earned his first cap with the American national team the fall after that World Cup, has had success at BMO Field. He scored the only meeting between the teams this season, notching the tying goal in a 1-1 game by dancing around defender Eriq Zavaleta and former Red Damien Perquis before putting a curling shot past goalkeeper Clint Irwin.

The 22-year-old Morris, who signed the richest homegrown contract in MLS history last January, scored 12 goals and added four assists in his first season, becoming Seattle’s top scorer in the process.

He has added two goals and an assist in the playoffs, including the winning goal in the second leg of the Western Conference final against Colorado, a game he played despite being ill in the days leading up to the match.

Toronto captain Michael Bradley praised that Morris performance this past week, pointing to his national team teammate as the guy who comes up with big plays when Seattle most needs them. The Sounders have a 10-2-1 record in matches where he has scored.

TFC will need to shut down Morris and midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro, a mid-season acquisition who had yet to join Seattle when the two teams played in early July.

“Lodeiro can unlock things,” Toronto coach Greg Vanney said. “I think the addition to him in the group has also helped, in some ways, mature Jordan’s game because he’s a runner, he’s fast, he can get to good spots and now he’s got another guy who can really deliver him balls.”

While Lodeiro, who was named the MLS newcomer of the year, has four goals in these playoffs, Bradley believes Morris is the one to watch. It’s not just his speed that makes the young player special, the Toronto captain said. It’s also his mentality and desire to improve that has everyone talking.

“For me, the guy who has really put (the Sounders) on his back in a lot of situations and in the last few months is Jordan,” Bradley said.