SEATTLE – It’s almost impossible to overstate the dream scenario that Cristian Roldan was living roughly two months ago.
The Seattle Sounders midfielder had just been named to the United States men’s national team for a World Cup hosted by his home nation. Not only that, but two of the USMNT’s group stage games would be played in Southern California, where Roldan grew up, with the other game being played in Seattle, where he had attended college and played professionally for effectively his entire adult life.
On the bus ride from the USMNT’s hotel in Laguna Nigel to their training facility in Irvine, Roldan would drive past fields he played on as a youth. On a near daily basis, Roldan would take time to appreciate how lucky he was.
For all that, Roldan admits that he’s still trying balance the positives of making a second World Cup roster with the reality that he has not yet played in a World Cup match.
“I think for me personally it didn’t go as well as I would’ve hoped,” Roldan told the media on Wednesday, a day before the Sounders take on the Portland Timbers in their first game back from the World Cup break. “Getting injured, not being able to feature in a game. … I felt part of the team, and I had a great experience altogether. Winning games with the team, feeling part of the team, doing something remarkable in the group stage.
“But for me as a professional, it’s a little frustrating.”
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In the training session the day after the USMNT’s 2–0 win over Australia in the second group stage game, Roldan injured his right quadricep. If not for that injury, he likely would have started the group stage finale against Türkiye. Roldan worked hard to get healthy in time to play in the subsequent two knockout stage games, but wasn’t even able to be fit enough to make the gameday roster.
In an effort to push himself, Roldan re-aggravated the injury and remains out. He is fit enough now that he’s been able to do some sprinting work, but an exact timeline for his return is not yet clear.
Even though it wasn’t the experience he imagined, Roldan remains intent on focusing on the positives.
Roldan believes the USMNT's early performances "inspired and motivated" the next generation of players and that they played well enough through the Round of 32 that it created a real sense of hope among fans. On a personal level, he got to carry the trident onto the field before a Seattle Mariners game where the entire USMNT was honored and manager Mauricio Pochettino threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
"The reception I got here in Seattle was special," he said.
Even the negatives have some potential silver lining.
"In the most beautiful moment of my career, being at a home World Cup, I had to face adversity," he said. "Reflecting on that and being able to bring that into MLS will be really important because it’s not going to be steady. I’m still injured and how can I help the group? I’m a big voice in the locker room, and how can I take my experience with the World Cup and bring it back here?"
After 40 days of sleeping in hotels and being away from his young family, Roldan is happy to get back to the grind.
"No. 1, just being home here is really nice," he said. "No. 2, seeing all the guys that I’ve battled with. Seeing them back and enjoying that experience together, just chatting and catching up with everybody.
"What better game to come back to? Just watching this Portland game. See how Portland games this rivalry. It’s going to be really special. Overall, I’m just really excited for that."
USMNT 'let nation down'
One element of the tournament Roldan didn’t even try to sugarcoat was how the USA went out.
The 4–1 loss to Belgium cast an obvious pall over the USA's entire tournament, leaving some to wonder if the goodwill had been entirely undone.
"I think that we let the nation down in the Round of 16 game," he said. "I think we all feel that way. I think we all feel that it wasn’t our best moment.
"I think we all felt frustrated and a little lost. We did feel a lot of blame, and we felt sorry for the nation overall."
