Walking onto the field at Raymond James Stadium Wednesday night, Cristian Roldan couldn’t help but smile.
The 22-year-old midfielder was making his first appearance with the U.S. Men’s National Team, a Gold Cup group stage match against Martinique, fulfilling a lifelong dream to represent the United States at the international level.
“It’s something that I never thought that I’d be able to achieve,” Roldan told SoundersFC.com. “It’s just a huge honor. It was extremely emotional and there’s no better feeling than representing the red, white, and blue.”
The third-year midfielder has turned heads over the past year with his timely tackles and ability to cover large portions of the pitch. This in turn led to 43 consecutive starts with the Sounders before being called up to the USMNT in June.
Ahead of Wednesday’s match, USMNT Head Coach Bruce Arena informed Roldan that he would be in the Starting XI.
“He told me a couple days in advance and anytime a coach tells you that you want to prove him right and hopefully I had a decent game,” Roldan said. “It was very awesome to hear him call my name out for the starting lineup and hopefully I gave a good first impression.”
Furthermore, Roldan was starting alongside Sounders teammate and all-around BFF, Jordan Morris. The forward had a spectacular night scoring twice - including the game-winning goal - to propel the United States to a 3-2 win.
“We wanted to enjoy this time together and really take it to Martinique and I’m very happy for my good friend Jordan for scoring those two goals,” he said. “It’s pretty cool seeing him score twice in one game and even better that I was part of it.”
Roldan and Morris squared off against a familiar face, as Sounders defender Jordy Delem started and went the full 90 minutes for Martinique.
“Jordan and myself thought Jordy played really well. He’s a great athlete and a good passer of the ball,” Roldan explained. “He’s hard to beat and I think that’s what makes him really good.”
The U.S. will take on Nicaragua in the final group stage match on Saturday, July 15 at 4 p.m. PT at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
