Whenever a team wins by multiple goals, the attacking players usually grab the headlines. And in Saturday’s resounding 3-0 victory over Nashville SC, the likes of Danny Musovski, Pedro de la Vega, Jesús Ferreira and Paul Rothrock rightfully received plenty of praise.
But if you dive deeper into the tactics, it becomes clear that the stellar midfield play of Cristian Roldan and Obed Vargas laid the foundation of the team’s explosive attack.
“They both did really well controlling the midfield, and I think they definitely won their matchups,” said Musovski.
The midfield duo made significant contributions on both sides of the ball, preventing Nashville from scoring and consistently springing attacks.
The buildup of the first goal began with Roldan’s high-pressure to win back possession before quickly finding de la Vega in a pocket of space. Four passes later, and the ball was in the back of the net.
11 minutes later, Roldan once again regained possession with a well-timed tackle before playing a through-ball into space for Vargas. From there, the 19-year-old midfielder drove to the endline where he utilized his strong vision to find de la Vega inside the box for goal number two.
Roldan finished the night with 11 passes into the final third, 3 clearances, 10 recoveries, and 7 duels won. Along with his assist, Vargas completed 4 passes into the final third, posted 5 clearances, and won 7 duels.
“[Cristian] and Obed showed their class tonight, both on the offensive side of the ball and on the defensive side of the ball,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “[Obed] and Cristian did a great job.”
In September of Seattle’s 2024 campaign, the two players joined forces in the central midfield. Since then, their underlying chemistry has been on full display, confirming the impact the two players hold for Seattle game-after-game.
It is clear: The Sounders are able to fire on all cylinders when their double pivot is bossing the midfield. In the nine 2024 matches where the duo lined up side by side, Seattle went unbeaten up until the Western Conference Finals against LA Galaxy, a team who won MLS Cup the following match.
Still, with the position group containing players like João Paulo and Danny Leyva — who helped secure the team’s 5-2 win over LAFC earlier this season, — the level of play never drops off when substitutions or alternative options are applied.
“I think they put a lot of work into it, all of them,” said de la Vega. “JP, Obed, Cristian, Danny Leyva, when he has a chance to play. And the important thing is that they play a very [crucial] role in [both] the defensive side and the offensive side, which is something that we always need.”
Whether it be Roldan and Vargas or João Paulo and Leyva in the central roles, the expectation to come out on the front foot and dictate the tempo right away remains the same. This is especially true as the players gear up to face another dynamic midfield that is the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.
“I think we need to be good in possession. We need to be able to push them back into their own half,” said Vargas. “They have very athletic players, and obviously we looked in the stats and video today, they created the most chances out of counter attacks, so we need to be good in our counter prevention and not allow them to have those moments.”
