RENTON – The smile is back on Raúl Ruidíaz’s face. That’s probably the first thing you notice when you observe the Peruvian buzzing around the field during Seattle Sounders training sessions.
It’s easy to understand why.
Not only has the 33-year-old managed to get through all of preseason and the first five weeks of the regular season injury free – something he failed to do in each of the past two seasons – he also seems to have regained his spot in the starting lineup.
But what has surely given him the most joy is simply seeing the ball hit the back of the net. Ruidíaz already has two goals this year, giving him 80 in his Sounders career and allowing him to pass Fredy Montero on the team’s all-time scoring list.
“I feel proud because it is a great challenge to leave your country and be the historic scorer of a very important club,” Ruidíaz told reporters, as translated by Niko Moreno. “That fills me with pride because I know that no one has handed me anything. I work very hard to achieve things. I tend to focus on the collective [achievements] but the personal [achievements] go hand in hand.”
