NCAA Soccer
Washington MF Cristian Roldan, 19, Has Eye on MLS
The gifted midfielder starred in an Adidas commercial at 9, won Soccer America's Freshman of the Year at 18, and is now primed for success as his sophomore season gets underway.
BEFORE A PREMIER DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE game this summer, the coach of the Washington Crossfires approached the referee working the game to remind him to make sure his calls didn’t allow the opposing team to get too physical with star player Cristian Roldan because “he’s got a pro contract waiting for him.”
It’s one of the worst-kept secrets in college soccer that Roldan, a creative sophomore central midfielder at the University of Washington, will likely take a Generation Adidas offer from Major League Soccer this winter and go on to be one of the top picks in the annual SuperDraft.
“It’s not 100 percent that I’m leaving,” Roldan told American Soccer Now. “It has to be the right offer and situation. But it’s definitely something that’s on the table.”
MLS courted Roldan a year ago after a strong (5 goals, 7 assists) season that saw him help the Huskies to the NCAA quarterfinals—the best showing in program history. He was also named Soccer America's Freshman of the Year and earned a call-up to Tab Ramos' U.S. U-20 national team.
“I’m not going to say I wasn’t tempted, because I was,” Roldan said this week. “Who doesn’t want to play pro soccer? But I felt like there were some things I still wanted to do here. I wanted to get closer to finishing my degree but I also wanted to get better as a player and the chance to play for Jamie (Clark, Washington’s head coach) meant a lot. He is a great teacher (who) knows the things I need to do so that when I do turn pro, I can do well. I don’t just want to be a pro, I want to be a good pro and I thought coming back another year would be best for me to do that.”
Passing on pro opportunities is nothing new for Roldan. He grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, about a half-hour drive from Carson, where both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA play and train. Both clubs offered Roldan a chance to join their academies but Roldan passed.
“It probably would have been better for me, for soccer, but I had personal reasons," Roldan said. "I felt a lot of loyalty to my high school team. My high school coach, Dominic Ticon, he did so much for me. And my little brother was on the team and I wanted to play with him.”
That commitment almost cost Roldan a chance to play at a high-profile program like Washington. Entering his senior season he was lightly recruited and it was only by chance that Clark spotted Roldan playing at the Surf Cup in San Diego late in the summer of 2012.
“We were leaving for the day," Clark recalled, "and there was this game being played on one of the fields and I knew the coach, Matt Broadhead, who runs Inter (a youth club) in Utah, so I decided to watch. This kid on the other team goes on these two video-game like runs—one he scores the other gets a P.K. So I go over to their team manager to get a roster and the woman says, ‘Keep an eye on No. 11,’ and I said, ‘That’s why I want the roster.’ And she said, ‘He’s my son.’
"We contacted Cristian the next day.”
Clark was stunned that an attacking player as skilled as Roldan was still unknown and didn’t have a college commitment: “Defenders, holding mids, goalkeepers, yeah, sometimes they fall through the cracks and are still there late,” he said. “But a player like this? It’s not supposed to happen.”
"I had some offers from some smaller D-I and some D-II schools but Washington was by far the biggest program," Roldan said.
In part because he hadn’t played at a very high level of youth soccer and in part to get a jump on school, Roldan has played PDL while attending summer school at the University of Washington.
“Playing PDL before my freshman year helped so much,” he said. “It got me used to the physical part of college (soccer), playing against bigger, older players. It allowed me to start college with a lot of confidence.”
Last season much of the Huskies’ offense was created by the flip-throws of senior defender Michael Harris, even after Roldan switched mid-season from left to central midfield. This year, the offense is running through Roldan, a challenge he welcomes.
“That’s another reason I came back. There aren’t many MLS teams where the No. 10 is a 19-year old college kid,” he said, referring to the number creative playmakers often wear.
In the Huskies season opener last week the offense flowed through Roldan in a 4-0 win over cross-state rival Gonzaga that saw Roldan draw a pair of penalty kicks. Teammate Darwin Jones, a product of the Seattle Sounders academy who passed on a pro offer to return for this season, converted both attempts.
“I was in Florida with the (U-20) national team when I got my offer and the Sounders were offering him a homegrown (contract) and we talked a few times on the phone about what we were going to do,” Roldan said. “I don’t know that I would have left if he had signed (with Seattle) but I think knowing the other was coming back played a role” in both returning.
Clark, who played as a holding midfielder for the San Jose Earthquakes after an All-American career at Stanford, thinks Roldan has the creativity and vision to play as an attacking midfielder in MLS but that he might end up playing in a deeper, more holding role.
“That’s the great thing about him—you give him the No. 10 role but he doesn’t just sit in the hole behind the forwards and look to spray passes. He loves to drive forward and is so positive about making runs. He puts a lot of pressure on the backs. But moving forward at the next level, he could be a siting midfielder in the No. 6 role. "Not that he can’t play No. 10 at next level, but he’s a ball hawk and he’s good in the air for a little (he’s listed as five-foot-eight) guy.”
But before he mans any professional midfield, there’s a college season to complete and it continues tonight with a cross-town derby against Seattle University—which happens to feature freshman starting attacking midfielder Alex Roldan, Cristian’s younger, but slightly bigger brother. “I’m so excited about that,” Cristian said. “I’ve never played against him before in a game. It’s going to be weird but also fun. Gonna have to show him who the real big brother is.”
“In all seriousness, I’m so happy for him to be playing at D-I and starting already and I love that he’s so close here. And they’re a good team. We played them last year in the (second round of the) NCAA (Tournament). We can’t look past them.”
If Roldan does sign with MLS via Generation Adidas this winter it will re-establish a relationship that first started when he was nine years old. Roldan starred in one of the shoe company's Impossible Is Nothing ads.
“The producers came to my league and asked the coaches to suggest some players who could make good facial expressions and could do some of the skill moves they wanted. They had this one move you had to do where you flipped the ball up and juggled it. They started with 110 players and kept bringing us back and there were fewer people each time and finally I was picked,” Roldan explained. “I had no idea how much went into making a commercial. For everything you see there are days and days of work you don’t see.”
In the commercial, Roldan plays a kid whom, it is implied, is too impoverished to have a soccer ball and creates a makeshift one using plastic bags knotted in a ball. For his effort he was paid “about 5,000” dollars and some Adidas gear. If all goes well he’ll be making a little more money soon enough, and getting some more gear.
“Hopefully,” he said. “My focus is on this season with Washington but that’s definitely something I want to do soon.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
Passing on pro opportunities is nothing new for Roldan. He grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, about a half-hour drive from Carson, where both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA play and train. Both clubs offered Roldan a chance to join their academies but Roldan passed.
“It probably would have been better for me, for soccer, but I had personal reasons," Roldan said. "I felt a lot of loyalty to my high school team. My high school coach, Dominic Ticon, he did so much for me. And my little brother was on the team and I wanted to play with him.”
That commitment almost cost Roldan a chance to play at a high-profile program like Washington. Entering his senior season he was lightly recruited and it was only by chance that Clark spotted Roldan playing at the Surf Cup in San Diego late in the summer of 2012.
“We were leaving for the day," Clark recalled, "and there was this game being played on one of the fields and I knew the coach, Matt Broadhead, who runs Inter (a youth club) in Utah, so I decided to watch. This kid on the other team goes on these two video-game like runs—one he scores the other gets a P.K. So I go over to their team manager to get a roster and the woman says, ‘Keep an eye on No. 11,’ and I said, ‘That’s why I want the roster.’ And she said, ‘He’s my son.’
"We contacted Cristian the next day.”
Clark was stunned that an attacking player as skilled as Roldan was still unknown and didn’t have a college commitment: “Defenders, holding mids, goalkeepers, yeah, sometimes they fall through the cracks and are still there late,” he said. “But a player like this? It’s not supposed to happen.”
"I had some offers from some smaller D-I and some D-II schools but Washington was by far the biggest program," Roldan said.
In part because he hadn’t played at a very high level of youth soccer and in part to get a jump on school, Roldan has played PDL while attending summer school at the University of Washington.
“Playing PDL before my freshman year helped so much,” he said. “It got me used to the physical part of college (soccer), playing against bigger, older players. It allowed me to start college with a lot of confidence.”
Last season much of the Huskies’ offense was created by the flip-throws of senior defender Michael Harris, even after Roldan switched mid-season from left to central midfield. This year, the offense is running through Roldan, a challenge he welcomes.
“That’s another reason I came back. There aren’t many MLS teams where the No. 10 is a 19-year old college kid,” he said, referring to the number creative playmakers often wear.
In the Huskies season opener last week the offense flowed through Roldan in a 4-0 win over cross-state rival Gonzaga that saw Roldan draw a pair of penalty kicks. Teammate Darwin Jones, a product of the Seattle Sounders academy who passed on a pro offer to return for this season, converted both attempts.
“I was in Florida with the (U-20) national team when I got my offer and the Sounders were offering him a homegrown (contract) and we talked a few times on the phone about what we were going to do,” Roldan said. “I don’t know that I would have left if he had signed (with Seattle) but I think knowing the other was coming back played a role” in both returning.
Clark, who played as a holding midfielder for the San Jose Earthquakes after an All-American career at Stanford, thinks Roldan has the creativity and vision to play as an attacking midfielder in MLS but that he might end up playing in a deeper, more holding role.
“That’s the great thing about him—you give him the No. 10 role but he doesn’t just sit in the hole behind the forwards and look to spray passes. He loves to drive forward and is so positive about making runs. He puts a lot of pressure on the backs. But moving forward at the next level, he could be a siting midfielder in the No. 6 role. "Not that he can’t play No. 10 at next level, but he’s a ball hawk and he’s good in the air for a little (he’s listed as five-foot-eight) guy.”
But before he mans any professional midfield, there’s a college season to complete and it continues tonight with a cross-town derby against Seattle University—which happens to feature freshman starting attacking midfielder Alex Roldan, Cristian’s younger, but slightly bigger brother. “I’m so excited about that,” Cristian said. “I’ve never played against him before in a game. It’s going to be weird but also fun. Gonna have to show him who the real big brother is.”
“In all seriousness, I’m so happy for him to be playing at D-I and starting already and I love that he’s so close here. And they’re a good team. We played them last year in the (second round of the) NCAA (Tournament). We can’t look past them.”
If Roldan does sign with MLS via Generation Adidas this winter it will re-establish a relationship that first started when he was nine years old. Roldan starred in one of the shoe company's Impossible Is Nothing ads.
“The producers came to my league and asked the coaches to suggest some players who could make good facial expressions and could do some of the skill moves they wanted. They had this one move you had to do where you flipped the ball up and juggled it. They started with 110 players and kept bringing us back and there were fewer people each time and finally I was picked,” Roldan explained. “I had no idea how much went into making a commercial. For everything you see there are days and days of work you don’t see.”
In the commercial, Roldan plays a kid whom, it is implied, is too impoverished to have a soccer ball and creates a makeshift one using plastic bags knotted in a ball. For his effort he was paid “about 5,000” dollars and some Adidas gear. If all goes well he’ll be making a little more money soon enough, and getting some more gear.
“Hopefully,” he said. “My focus is on this season with Washington but that’s definitely something I want to do soon.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
