On Saturday, U.S. Soccer announced the preliminary 40-man roster for the upcoming 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup and one of the newest names on the roster was Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan. While this roster will be pared down to 23 before the tournament, meaning Roldan still has plenty of work to do to make the final team, he addressed potentially earning a first full USMNT call-up.
"It’s a huge honor for me. I think you have to not get too excited, it’s just a preliminary and you have to just control what you can control and that’s playing well for the Sounders," Roldan said after earning the game-winning assist in Sunday's 1-0 defeat of the Houston Dynamo. "I think if you continue to play well, you’ll get chosen and obviously it’s a huge opportunity for me and I’m very thankful and privileged to be in this situation."
Roldan has been one of the breakout stars of the 2017 MLS season already just on assist away from equaling his 2016 total. The California-native had a beautiful cross that Will Bruin headed in to seal the 1-0 win over Houston on Sunday night.
"I took a good first touch and for me I wanted to take my time and not rush it at all because when you do that it tends to be a bad ball," said Roldan. "For me, it was put it as close to the six as possible where the keeper can’t get it and where Will had a good chance."
