Gregg Berhalter is well aware of the qualities Cristian Roldan brings to the U.S. men’s national team. In fact, he listed them off one by one during a call with reporters on Thursday.
“Cristian Roldan is a guy that has been doing great for his club,” Berhalter said. “[He’s] playing as a winger for his club but for us he’s played midfielder, sometimes winger, but overall great team guy.
“He competes more than I think anyone on the team. One of the most competitive guys in the team. Fantastic attitude, student of the game, always learning, always improving.”
However, in spite of Berhalter’s praise and Roldan continuing to star for the Seattle Sounders, he has found his USMNT chances limited. Roldan made just five appearances in the USMNT’s 14 World Cup qualifiers, all of which came from the bench. And even though he’s been called in for the USMNT’s four games this month, he did not receive minutes in either of the first two matches.
Roldan’s stellar club displays even led Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer to call Berhalter out last month, urging the U.S. boss to give the midfielder more of a chance.
Berhalter is aware that Roldan’s patience is being tested, but wouldn’t guarantee the 27-year-old any minutes in the team’s upcoming two games.
“Unfortunately, he hasn’t gotten game time yet,” Berhalter said. “And that’s one of the things when we’re looking at these rosters and trying to deal with [having] six substitutes and get guys on the field. And it’s been difficult and I’ve had to have a number of conversations with Cristian and just tell him to try to be patient. I would like to get him on the field in these next two games and we’ll see if we can do that.”
Roldan plays as a winger with Seattle but with the USMNT, Berhalter sees him as a central midfielder. The coach indicated that may be an impediment for more minutes, as Roldan is behind several central midfield options on the depth chart and doesn’t have the kind of field-stretching characteristics he’s looking for in a winger.
“We’re building depth in these positions and it’s tough based on what we ask our wingers to do,” Berhalter said. “But if there’s any guy that’s going to try to do exactly what we asked, it’s going to be Cristian.”
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