Seattle Sounders defender Alex Roldan is no stranger to emergency situations. Four years ago, in a road match against the San Jose Earthquakes, he famously became the first field player in club history to step into goal. Like he did then, Roldan helped keep another clean sheet in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Austin FC by filling in at center back, his first stint there in his professional career.
With center backs Yeimar, Kim Kee-hee and Stuart Hawkins all injured -- and Jon Bell and Nouhou serving a one-match suspension for red cards in their previous MLS match -- Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer had a scarcity of options to play alongside Jackson Ragen. So, Schmetzer slid Roldan over from his usual spot at right fullback and slotted him into the center of the back line where he earned a shutout and secured a valuable three points at home.
“He did good,” Schmetzer said of Roldan’s performance. “No critical errors. His possession was good, that’s what we put him in there for. I thought we would have more of the ball than Austin. Jackson stepped up to help him a little bit because you play as an individual first, but then as a pair, the two center backs always have to play as a pair. Jackson did a good job with leadership.”
It’s Alex’s older brother, Cristian, who coincidentally has been a jack-of-all-trades player for Schmetzer over the past decade. But the younger Roldan has the same pedigree and selflessness to simply go where he’s needed and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
“[He was] really good, really clean,” Cristian said of Alex. “He’s a player that plays out of the back, so those passes are gonna happen. The second goal happened because of his ability to play out of the back.
“It adds another layer to our game, having a player like Alex on the back line,” Cristian continued. “He understands and reads the game extremely well, so when he backs off [Austin forward] Brandon [Vazquez], he’s playing against a bigger forward, he understood his role. He understood that there were times where maybe stepping into the midfield wasn’t the play. That’s credit to him for understanding the game as well as he did.”
Roldan’s performance was a microcosm of the Sounders’ ethos as a club. His humility and technical acumen to succeed combined with a stout defensive effort has been a hallmark of Schmetzer’s ideology since he took the reins in 2016.
“We’ve always been a good defensive team because I demand [it],” Schmetzer said. “It’s part of what I believe in. Every player on the field has to do their part defensively.”
Sounders forward Danny Musovski, who scored early in the second half to double Seattle’s lead, praised Roldan’s performance as well.
“Alex did a really good job stepping in,” Musovski said. “We had the ‘next guy up’ mentality and [guys] were able to do their roles and get a shutout.”
The Sounders may very well need Roldan’s services at center back at some point in the future. Bell and Nouhou will return from their suspensions next week when Seattle hosts Columbus Crew on Sunday (2 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV | TICKETS), but outputs from Roldan on Saturday, as well as how efficiently Seattle pressed and counter-pressed as an entire unit, will make Schmetzer even more confident in running Roldan back out there in a pinch.
“[Defense has] been one of our calling cards,” said Schmetzer. “I was appreciative of some of the comments that PSG was surprised a little bit that we were pressing high on goal kicks. That’s part of our DNA. That’s one of the easiest moments to press. I expect that. That sometimes helps you if you have some changes in the back line.”
