Obed Vargas has been called into the Mexico National team for a January training camp that will include two friendlies against Panama (Jan. 22) and Bolivia (Jan. 25). As a result, Vargas will miss at least the first week of the Seattle Sounders’ preseason trip to Europe and will likely join the team after it moves operations to Marbella, Spain.
While that normally wouldn’t be too big of an issue — this is hardly the first time a Sounders player has missed part of preseason to be with their national team — it does come at a potentially pivotal period in his career.
Let’s dig in…
The World Cup is right around the corner
Although he’s still just 20 and will presumably have many more opportunities to compete for a World Cup roster spot, I am sure Vargas sees this as a massive opportunity to get his foot in the door. This is now the second consecutive El Trí training camp Vargas has been called into, after earning his second career senior cap in November.
This roster in particular is a mix of relatively new faces and more established players. In the midfield, for instance, there are both players like Carlos Rodriguez (who has 61 caps) and several others who are still seeking their first cap. Vargas, it should be noted, is the only one not currently playing in Mexico. The roster also includes fellow dual-nationals Brian Gutierrez and Richie Ledezma (who both recently completed moves to Chivas).
In other words, it’s definitely an experimental roster, but not one that can be ignored, either. That doesn’t put Vargas in the driver’s seat or anything — he’s still never started for Mexico — but it shows that he’s at least part of the conversation. This camp is absolutely key for him to make a good impression.
For Vargas to have any hope of making Mexico’s roster, though, that only cracks open the door. To actually book his spot, he absolutely needs to be playing and playing well during the first few months of the upcoming season. Easily, his best chance of doing that is with the Sounders where he’s already an established starter.
Tim Ostlund-Foss
Where things stand with the Sounders
As has been reported extensively, this is Vargas’ final year on his rookie contract, with the Sounders having exercised his option in 2026, and all indications I’ve seen is that he has no real intention of signing a new contract with them. That means Vargas will potentially be a free agent at the end of this season and could sign a pre-contract with an interested team as early as this summer.
Based on Sounder at Heart's reporting, the Sounders have been trying to get Vargas to sign an extension since at least late 2024. My understanding is that it only took that long because they had been giving Vargas some space while he was in the process of seeking new representation, a process that took most of 2024 to complete.
