He hesitated, as if trying to form a bold addendum. Then he shook his head. “I just never thought this much pressure would be put on me,” he said.

Reacting to Criticism

Shortly after lunch Friday, Morris climbed into a luxury bus parked next to the Sounders’ training facility. Taylor Twellman, a former forward for the national team and now the top soccer analyst for ESPN, was going to interview Morris ahead of the Sounders’ game with Portland on Sunday.

Their rapport was good. Twellman has a contagious enthusiasm and asks pointed questions. Morris, despite sitting in searing heat because the noisy air-conditioning had to be turned off during taping, was candid, if typically self-effacing. He talked about the rivalry with Portland and about the Sounders’ new Uruguayan attacker, Nicolás Lodeiro. He talked with emotion about being one of the few professional soccer players with Type 1 diabetes, a reality that he hopes will inspire others.

The only hiccup came when Twellman asked, through a wide smile, “So, do you have a left foot?”

Morris hesitated. The question was meant to give Morris a chance to make a joke about his perceived reliance on his right foot — a point Morris has conceded is not unfair — but upon hearing it, Morris frowned. Later, he said that he was not bothered by the question, but that it was emblematic of how he was learning to react to criticism.

Put another way: His reaction was about the label stuff.

Can he really become that true American star while favoring one foot? The no-left-foot trope is raised often on Twitter, Morris said, and there have been times when he has struggled not to aggressively explain that he is, in fact, pigeon-toed — his feet naturally point inward instead of straight ahead — which makes it more natural for him to flick the ball with the outside of his right foot than open his hips to play with the inside of his left.

“There are so many times I’ve wanted to get into it, and I think it’s because I feel like soccer is my identity,” Morris said. “So when people are bashing me for soccer, I feel like they’re bashing me as a person.”