On April 29, FS1’s First Things First welcomed Sounders FC midfielder Cristian Roldan to their “World Cup Wednesday” segment of the show to discuss all things U.S. Men’s National Team as Roldan and the team prepare for the upcoming international tournament.
The segment kicked off with hosts Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes asking Roldan about the importance of the previous friendlies against Belgium and Portugal back in March. While the two scrimmages did not end in the USMNT’s favor, Roldan felt that he and his teammates left with some positive takeaways.
“Minimizing mistakes is something that we need to take from those games,” said Roldan. “Obviously, the results didn't go our way, but we saw that the difference against these types of opponents is in front of goal, defensively and offensively. How can we be better sound defensively in front of goal, and then take our chances against these top teams?”
The conversation continued with a look ahead on the USMNT final two friendlies against Senegal and Germany, the team’s advantages of playing on home soil in North America for the World Cup, Roldan's mind-set heading into the world-renowned tournament, and what to expect as they gear up to face Paraguay and Australia in the opening group stage matches held in Los Angeles and Seattle. The USMNT previously earned results over the two sides in November in two high-intensity friendlies.
For those who missed yesterday’s segment, Roldan’s First Things First interview is still available to watch on FOXSports.com.
