There wasn’t a need to soak anything in after the U.S. national team was bounced from the FIFA Men’s World Cup in the round of 16. Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said he was present for every moment.
The surreal experiences ranged from being on the bench for the nation’s group-stage matches miles from his hometown of Pico Rivera, Calif., and adopted hometown of Seattle. They included training at his alma mater University of Washington and suffering a quad injury that he re-aggravated when pushing to be available for the tournament’s knockout rounds.
“We really inspired and motivated the next generation,” Roldan said of the U.S. winning their group and defeating Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32. “We did a really good job of creating that hope, that belief within the nation.
“For me, personally, in the most beautiful moment of my career, being at a home World Cup, I had to face adversity. Reflecting on that and being able to bring that into MLS will be really important because it’s not going to be steady.”
Roldan’s Sounders will close the run on the FIFA-laid grass at Lumen with a Cascadia derby against Portland on Thursday. The surface will be removed after the match and returned to a turf field.
In talking about adversity, the Sounders experienced their share during the World Cup. Roldan heads a list of five teammates who either re-aggravated or are making slower progress than expected and likely won’t be able to play until August.
Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said Yeimar (hamstring) is the closest to returning. Back-line teammates Alex Roldan (hip), Kim Kee-hee (calf), Ryan Sailor (knee) and midfielder Pedro de la Vega (knee) need to have substantial training sessions without setbacks.
Roldan is already a co-captain but said finding ways to be a leader with the national team while unable to play could help at the club level. He said he’s “getting there” health-wise after a running around the perimeter of the field while Sounders teammates trained at Lumen on Wednesday.
The Stars and Stripes lost 4-1 to Belgium last week, which marked the final World Cup match in the stadium. Controversy surrounded the match because of striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension temporarily lifted the eve of the match and President Trump stating he had intervened.
“We let the nation down in the round of 16 game,” Roldan said. “It wasn’t our best moment and in a lot of the game, we could’ve done a lot better. You can take the goals for instance. For me, it was the second balls that we lost in the midfield. I find that really frustrating because that is what we were good at in the other four games. We all felt frustrated, a little lost and we did feel a lot of blame and sorry for the nation.”
The Sounders (7-3-3) haven’t played since a 1-0 road loss against Los Angeles FC on May 24. They were shutout in their final two matches before the World Cup break, also losing 2-0 at Lumen to the LA Galaxy. The Sounders’ last goal was two months ago, and last clean sheet was in April.
The club is above the playoff line in sixth place in the Western Conference.
“Getting off to the right start for this home match is critical,” said Schmetzer, whose team will be on the road the following three games because of the field surface change.
Portland (4-8-2) lost their two matches headed into the break and mutually parted ways with coach Phil Neville. The Timbers appointed Jack Cassidy interim coach, initially hiring him to lead the club’s MLS Next Pro team earlier this year.
Regardless of who’s coaching — Giovanni Savarese was released by the Timbers in 2023 — the Timbers were comfortable at Lumen. But in their last meeting in October, the Sounders snapped a 10-match winless streak (0-5-5) with a 1-0 win.
“What better game to come back to,” Roldan said of the rivalry match. “We need to have a strong performance here on this grass field. Regardless of the surface, but the grass plays perfect.”
The only imperfection is Roldan not having a chance to play on it.
“(The World Cup) didn’t go as well as I had hoped, getting injured and not being able to feature in a game,” Roldan said. “The city, (Sounders co-owner) Adrian (Hanauer), (local World Cup committee CEO) Peter (Tomozawa) did a great job organizing everything and hopefully it translates.
“Hopefully it translates to some energy here with the Sounders, with fans in the stadium, with acquisitions, with the entire league all together. This was a huge positive and now we have to build off it.”
Sounders loan defender
The Sounders loaned defender Cody Baker to the New England Revolution through the end of the 2026 MLS season in exchange for their first-round pick in the 2027 MLS SuperDraft, the clubs announced Wednesday.
If certain performance metrics are met this season, the loan becomes a trade, and the Sounders will acquire $125,000 in 2027 General Allocation Money (GAM) and the 2027 first-round pick reverts to a 2028 second-round selection. The Sounders could also receive up to an additional $150,000 in GAM.
Baker, 22, made 37 appearances (17 starts), through all competitions for the Sounders since signing in 2023. The Issaquah native originally joined the Sounders Discovery Program in 2015, advanced to the Sounders FC Academy and signed with MLSNP side Tacoma Defiance in July 2021.
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