RENTON — Cristian Roldan doesn’t get to watch too many Seattle Sounders matches from the bench. Over the last nine seasons, in fact, there have only been two instances where he made the gameday roster and didn’t play. The last time it happened was way back in 2017.
That’s mostly the result of Roldan being a virtually indispensable part of Brian Schmetzer’s lineups. On the rare occasion he doesn’t start, Roldan’s flexibility is such that he’s useful off the bench either as someone who can help the Sounders lock down a result or chase a goal.
With the Sounders effectively cruising to what would ultimately be a 6-2 aggregate-goal victory over Antigua on Wednesday, Roldan was deemed surplus and got to effectively take the night off.
“It was a strange feeling,” Roldan told reporters following Friday’s training session. “I’m a competitor, I want to be on the field, I want to be getting into tackles and starting attacks and keeping the team organized.
“I was getting a littly antsy, yelling at Paul [Arriola] about positioning and almost watching to be with the coaches to be able to impact the game.”
