Ashtone Morgan

Ashtone Morgan (born February 9, 1991) is a Canadian soccer player who plays for Real Salt Lake as a full-back.

Ashtone Morgan
Morgan with Toronto FC in 2017
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-02-09) February 9, 1991
Place of birth Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Full back
Club information
Current team
 Real Salt Lake
Number 3
Youth career
2008–2010 Toronto FC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 TFC Academy
2015–2019 Toronto FC II 11 (1)
2011–2019 Toronto FC 127 (2)
2020– Real Monarchs 1 (0)
2020– Real Salt Lake 0 (0)
National team‡
2007 Canada U16
2010 Canada U20 2 (0)
2011– Canada 18 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 7, 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of January 15, 2020

Morgan was the first graduate of the TFC Academy to play for the Canadian National Team.[2]

Career

Youth

Ashtone attended Northern Secondary School in Toronto and played for the Toronto Lynx U-13 squad that travelled to England to play other youth academies. On this trip he was the standout player of the Canadian side earning him invitations from clubs such as Southampton.[3]

2008–12: Youth academy and early career

Morgan joined TFC Academy at age 16 in 2008, and went on to feature for the team in the Canadian Soccer League in 2009 and 2010.[4]

Morgan made his professional debut for Toronto FC on October 20, 2010 in a CONCACAF Champions League match versus Árabe Unido from Panama.[5] Morgan was able to play for the Senior squad of Toronto while not holding a professional contract. The game ended in a 1–0 win for Toronto with Morgan having a stand out performance that earned him much publicity.[6]

In late January 2011 it was announced that Morgan would travel with Toronto's Senior team to Turkey for preseason training camp, Ashtone was one of four academy players invited to travel.[7] He signed with Toronto FC on March 17, 2011.[8] Morgan made his league debut on March 26, 2011 against Portland as a second half sub for Javier Martina.[9] In the last third of the season Morgan became a regular starter for the reds with playing a full 90 minutes in 7 of the last 10 league games.[10] Morgan finished the 2011 season with 14 league games.[11]

Morgan cemented himself as the starting left back for Toronto in the 2012 season, he registered 3 assists in two games in late June. On July 5, the club announced that it had re-signed Morgan to a long-term deal.[12]

2013–2019: Toronto FC and Toronto FC II

However, with the arrival of Justin Morrow, Morgan saw his minutes decrease during the 2014 MLS season, mainly featuring as the club's back-up option at left back. With Morrow entrenched at the position going into the 2015 season, Morgan was loaned to Toronto FC II to get more playing time, while still being able to feature for the first team when needed.[13] He made his debut for Toronto FC II against the Charleston Battery on March 21.[14] However, with injuries to the first-team back line, Morgan was able to force his way back into the Toronto line-up during the 2015 season,[15] and on May 2 he became the first player in Toronto FC history to make 100 appearances in all competitions for the club in a 1–0 victory over the Philadelphia Union.[16] Despite missing the majority of the 2016 season due to injury, as Toronto FC made it to the 2016 MLS Cup, Morgan relished the club reaching its most successful season to date.[17] Upon completion of the season, Morgan re-signed with Toronto FC before the 2017 season.[18] Toronto declined his option for the 2020 season, ending his time with the club after nine seasons.[19]

Real Salt Lake

On January 21, 2020, it was announced that Morgan would be signing with Real Salt Lake for the 2020 season.[20]

International

Morgan was a part of several Canadian U-16 camps in 2007, while also appearing for the U-20 side in late 2010. Morgan received his first international senior team call-up in late September when Stephen Hart announced his roster for two FIFA World Cup qualifying games against Saint Lucia and Puerto Rico.[21] This made Morgan the first graduate of the Toronto FC Academy to be called up to the Canadian men's national team.[22] Morgan made his debut against Saint Lucia as a second half sub for Simeon Jackson in a 7–0 away victory, he also received an assist for setting up Iain Hume who scored the 6th goal.[23] Morgan was call-up to the national team in the next international window, Ashtone earned his first start for the national team against Saint Kitts and Nevis on November 15, the game ended in a 4–0 victory for the Canadians at the national stadium of BMO Field.[24] On December 13 Morgan was awarded the 2011 Canadian U-20 Player of the Year, receiving 33.3% of the vote and just beating out Russell Teibert for the award.[25][26]

On June 27, 2013 Morgan was listed as a part of the confirmed 23-man squad for Colin Miller's Canada squad for 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[27]

On May 30, 2019 Morgan was named to the final squad for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[28]

Career statistics

Club
As of March 7, 2020
Club League Season League Playoffs Canadian Championship CONCACAF Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Toronto FC II USL 2015 1000000010
2016 1000000010
2017 7100000071
2018 1000000010
USL League One 2019 1000000010
Total 111000000111
Toronto FC MLS 2010 0000001010
2011 140000080220
2012 300004080420
2013 220002000240
2014 3000200050
2015 190001000200
2016 7000200090
2017 5100100061
2018 180004041261
2019 91003010131
Total 1272001902211683
Real Monarchs USL Championship 2020 1000000010
Career Total 1393001902211804

International statistics
As of January 16, 2020
Canada national team
YearAppsGoals
201120
201200
201390
201520
201600
201700
201810
201920
202020
Total180

Honours

Club
Toronto FC

Individual

References
  1. "Ashtone Morgan". canadasoccer.com. Canadian Soccer Association. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  2. "Canada's 'homegrown' edge in MLS will help Team Canada, too". www.thescore.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  3. "Lynx Juniors Impress EPL Clubs". www.google.ca. Nuke Soccer. Archived from the original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved January 30, 2011.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. "Canadian Soccer League Powered by Goalline Sports Administration Software". August 2, 2008. Archived from the original on August 2, 2008. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  5. "Ashtone Morgan » CONCACAF Champions League 2010/2011". World Football. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  6. "Morgan Debut Opens Eyes". www.torontofc.ca. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  7. "Morgan Debut Opens Eyes". www.torontofc.ca. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  8. "Toronto FC Academy Graduates Four More". www.torontofc.ca. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  9. "Martina Brace Leads The Way". Toronto FC. March 26, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
  10. "Martina Brace Leads The Way". Toronto Star. October 8, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  11. "Ashtone Morgan » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  12. "Morgan signs Long Term Deal". Toronto FC. July 5, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  13. "Toronto FC loan seven players to Toronto FC II". March 20, 2015.
  14. Hylton, Kamal (March 21, 2015). "Match Recap: TFC II vs. Charleston".
  15. Neil Davidson (May 1, 2015). "Ashtone Morgan nears 100-game record with Toronto FC". Toronto Star.
  16. "Toronto FC wins second straight with 1-0 win over Union". CP24. May 2, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  17. Kurtis Larson (December 7, 2016). "Toronto FC mainstay Ashtone Morgan relishes MLS Cup berth after slogging through club's darkest seasons". National Post.
  18. Peter Galindo (December 16, 2016). "TFC re-signs Canadian defender Ashtone Morgan". Sportsnet.ca.
  19. "Toronto FC announces roster decisions to conclude 2019 season". Toronto FC. November 21, 2019.
  20. "RSL signs defender Ashtone Morgan". rsl.com. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  21. "Canada announces roster for upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers". Canadian Soccer Association. September 29, 2011.
  22. "Morgan's call-up and the dreams of Canadian kids". Canadian Soccer News. September 29, 2011. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  23. "Canada routs St. Lucia 7-0 in World Cup qualifier". Toronto Star. October 7, 2011.
  24. "Canada Finishes With Authority". Toronto FC. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  25. "Morgan, Pietrangelo named Canadian U-20 Players of the Year". Canada Soccer Association. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  26. "Morgan Wins National Award". Toronto FC. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  27. "Canada Finalize roster for Gold Cup, announces friendly". Canada Soccer. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  28. "Together We Rise: Canada Soccer announces squad for the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup". May 30, 2019.
  29. "Recap: Toronto FC vs Seattle Sounders". mlssoccer.com. December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  30. "Kings of the League: Toronto FC win first Supporters' Shield". mlssoccer.com. September 30, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.