Former Sounders Star Midfield Pairing Could Get Increased World Cup Roles in Group Stage Finales
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Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan battles Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi for the ball as Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas looks on during a match on Tuesday, Sep. 16, 2025 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Jane Gershovich / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]
It's been an exceptionally exciting FIFA World Cup in North America so far.
From two of six games scheduled to be played in Seattle finishing with resounding success and the tournament's brightest stars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland off to impressive starts, the world's biggest sporting event is everything fans hoped it would be.
But the two players with strong ties to the Seattle Sounders, current midfielder Cristian Roldan and February transfer Obed Vargas, haven't seen the field much. Vargas got on for the final 25 minutes of Mexico's win over South Korea and impressed with multiple dynamic runs to burn clock and preserve a 1-0 win to clinch the group.
His strong minutes have pushed Mexican fans and media to suggest the 20-year-old Atletico Madrid man playing in his first World Cup should see a larger role going into a Wednesday group stage match with Czechia at 3 p.m. PT.
Meanwhile, Roldan, a career Sounders man at 31, is on track to go a second straight World Cup with the USMNT without a single second of playing time.
But after two convincing wins (4-1 over Paraguay and 2-0 over Australia in Seattle last Friday), the U.S.'s group stage finale against eliminated Turkiye on Thursday will serve little meaning. With key pieces like Christian Pulisic dealing with ailments, the chatter around the country has been whether head coach Mauricio Pochettino should rest his starters in Los Angeles on Thursday.
While Roldan was dealt a muscle injury during training that he's still dealing with, he seemed confident he'd be fit and ready to go for the Turkiye fixture when he spoke to the media on Tuesday.
What's more, all of the U.S. group stage fixtures are either in LA or Seattle. Roldan grew up in LA and has spent the last 15 years in Seattle as a member of the University of Washington squad and the Sounders. Getting on the pitch in his hometown on Thursday would be a landmark moment for the Rave Green legend.
Vargas' Case
This one is straightforward.
Vargas showed flashes of the five-year player Sounders fans grew accustomed to last Thursday. In the final 25 minutes of the match he was on the field for, Vargas launched a curling shot to the edge of the net, which Korea's keeper somehow parried on a diving attempt to keep him away from his first World Cup goal.
Outside of that, Vargas had a few solid defensive recoveries and the final run of the game to force a corner. The young player from Anchorage, Alaska, made the team in part because of his time with Mexico at the U-20 World Cup, where he led the team with 381 minutes over five matches and again showcased his ability to turn on a heel and burn defenders on long runs.
In Seattle, Vargas stood alongside Roldan, Albert Rusnak and others as staples of the starting XI despite being a teenager. He stood out in a match against Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez (the latter of whom tried to fight him postgame) and Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup final.
He parlayed all that experience to a transfer to Spanish giant Atletico Madrid this past winter, quickly picking up eight starts in league play. If Sounders GM Craig Waibel hadn’t worked with Vargas and Atleti to make that dream transfer happen for just $3 million, there’s a good chance Vargas wouldn’t be in this World Cup. Despite his contributions to the U-20 team, Mexican manager Javier Aguirre confirmed in February that Vargas, one of just a few Mexican players signed for a major European side, would likely not have made the squad as a Sounder.
“I was SURE that Obed Vargas wasn’t going to go to the World Cup, but now that he moved from Seattle to Atletico Madrid, I AUTOMATICALLY have to bring him and look at him”. 🇪🇸🎙️
– Javier Aguirre. 🤯🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZL5ZG7A6Ru— All Fútbol MX 🇲🇽 (@AllFutbolMX) February 20, 2026
Needless to say, the lights of Estadio Azteca may bring out the little boy in Vargas on Wednesday, but his track record in handling the moment rivals that of any 20-year-old in this tournament.
In terms of his offensive upside, Vargas' late run against Korea was not an anomaly. He's shown that ability in Tacoma, Seattle, Madrid, with the Mexico U-20's and now with the senior squad. Getting him minutes in the final group stage match would add value to Mexico’s midfield as a duelist and a young player made for tournament-style competition.
Roldan's Case
The U.S. has some strong pieces that came out in a 3-5-2 in their win over Australia, including Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie. To be clear, the talent in the U.S. midfield is high and with how this team has played, no one on the bench, including Roldan, should supplant them outright.
But there are reasons to get Roldan on the pitch against an eliminated Turkiye squad with the group in hand.
Like Vargas, Roldan has played in plenty of meaningful games. From the MLS Cup Final in 2019 to the Concacaf Champions Cup Final in 2022 and Leagues Cup last fall, he manages the midfield well, but he's not typically away from game reps for this long.
“As a professional athlete, you want to be on the field, you want to be contributing,” Roldan said. “I’m so used to it with Seattle… I’ve made my impact on the field, and I feel like I can still do that.”
With yellow cards on Tyler Adams and Antonee Robinson threatening to sideline the two midfielders for crucial knockout games, it would be the safe play to sideline the two in favor of another MLS talent in Sebastian Berhalter and Roldan.
In terms of the reception to playing Roldan, USMNT fans' chief criticism against the Seattle legend is that he's never scored for the national team. It's true, but his superpower has always been link-up play — see his two assists in a friendly leading up to this World Cup. He’s always overlooked as a Sounder, as his contributions as a set-it-and-forget-it duelist don’t always stand out to the casual viewer. Last year at the Club World Cup, he was easily one of the best players on the pitch against Paris Saint-Germain and Atleti, showing an ability to step up on the offensive end when playing superior talent.
At the end of the day, however, putting Roldan in would at the very least boost morale. Roldan told media on Tuesday that his teammates want to see him, just one of three players over the age of 30 on the squad, get on the pitch at some point.
“It would mean a lot to the team. I think my teammates really want that for me. They know how much I sacrifice for the boys and they know that I help the team a whole lot,” Roldan said of getting minutes against Turkiye. “I am pushing extremely hard to get to that game because I know that there could be an opportunity.”
Indeed, two iterations of this USMNT squad have watched Roldan watch from the bench. When he missed all four of the team's matches four years ago in Qatar, Roldan was always one of the first benchwarmers to celebrate a big moment with the players on the pitch. Because of his team-first attitude, he’s positioned himself as a team favorite.
He also has the unique case of this World Cup occurring in his hometown. Needless to say, Roldan wants to play in LA on Thursday.
“It’s an experience that you cannot describe,” Roldan said of this World Cup being in his two hometowns. “You feel at home wherever you are.
“The game in Seattle, it was awesome to see everyone sing the national anthem and sing Country Roads. I almost cried during the national anthem… it was incredible to see Seattle show the entire world how special of a city it is.”
Even if the specific dream of playing in the World Cup doesn't come true for Roldan, just getting to be a part of the squad so far has clearly been a moving experience.
With the group in hand, multiple midfielders compromised due to yellow cards and the team seemingly thrilled to see Roldan hit the pitch, Pochettino should give the Seattle star his moment in sun on Thursday.
