Cristian Roldan has too much time here, clearly. Roldan should have whipped in the cross without looking – a blind cross. It’s moot I know because it resulted in a goal! Yet at the highest level, Roldan or the Seattle Sounders wouldn’t gotten away with this. The player, Roldan, would be closed down. Roldan wouldn’t have time to take so many touches and to turn and cross the soccer ball. The is the type of pattern you might walk through with your team in training. It looks like a walk through in a way it’s so easy. Yes, Will Bruin makes an excellent and well timed run to the back post and get up for the header. And the cross by Roldan is of course good. It’s a nice goal but just too easy.
Roldan comes off the attacking third back into the midfield to receive the ball and takes a touch to control the ball and then another towards the attacking area, puts his head up, and then crosses the ball. That’s a lot of different elements happening in a real live soccer game before he’s closed down. There’s a flow to it all yes and it’s hot out so maybe that’s why the Kansas City defender don’t arrive to close Roldan down.
Even before he gets to the soccer ball Roldan knows Bruin is in the lineup for the Sounders and therefore they have someone who can get on the end of crosses and score. So he could have just controlled the ball and with his back facing Bruin, he could have whipped the ball in. Roldan facing the fans rather than the goal when he crosses it. That would have resulted in a nicer goal! Just saying. (And yes the Seattle Sounders should stop playing on turf.)
(via @SoundersFC) pic.twitter.com/tR1gxsxF38
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 25, 2022
And what with all the time Roldan is given Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and Graham Zusi should have done better here. Two experienced defenders should see the cross coming and body up Bruin more or at least get tighter. If it was a blind cross by Roldan then I could see the two defenders getting lost for that brief second that would allow Bruin to get a free header. But it wasn’t. Again, Roldan has too much time on the ball. He knows Bruin is in the lineup upfront. He knows how to whip in a blind cross.