In the 37th minute of the Seattle Sounders’ 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 28, midfielder Cristian Roldan became the first outfield player in club history to record 3,000 minutes in a single MLS season. He also became the first outfield player to start all 34 matches (In 2016, forward Jordan Morris became the first outfield player to feature in all 34 matches).
The only other Sounders to start all 34 matches and play at least 3,000 minutes are goalkeepers Kasey Keller (2011) and Stefan Frei (2014).
Roldan finished seven minutes shy of a full 3,060-minute regular season. Head Coach Brian Schmetzer substituted him only once all year, in the 83rd minute of a 4-1 win over the Houston Dynamo on Oct. 8, when he exited for his brother, Alex.
“Cristian has logged a lot of miles for this club and there’s always times where you think you could take a couple minutes off of him when it doesn’t matter in this game and the game is probably cooked anyway,” said Schmetzer after the Houston win. “There’s always injury risks and stuff like that, but he’s been durable. It’s a testament to that kid that he can play 90 every game. Midweek games, all that sort of stuff. He does all the little things that we do.
“The kid gets up and down the field in a hurry,” he continued. “We love the kid and we hope we get him wrapped up here so he can be here for a long time.”
Roldan has played 122 matches and started 106 in four seasons with the Sounders since Seattle selected him in the first round of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. He has logged an impressive 9,759 minutes.
