Cristian Roldan will play vs. Timbers, Brian Schmetzer guarantees
It is perhaps fitting that Cristian Roldan will end his nine-game absence against the Portland Timbers on Saturday. Roldan last played on April 8 against St. Louis City — where he apparently suffered a concussion that caused lingering symptoms — and the first match he missed was against the Timbers, a 4-1 loss in Portland.
“He will be playing tomorrow, I can guarantee that,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said during a joint press conference with the OL Reign ahead of their doubleheader.
Roldan was one of two players who participated in the press-conference and expressed relief to finally be feeling like himself again.
“It’s been a frustrating 7-8 weeks,” he said. “I’m feeling back to normal and happy to be back. I miss the sport. I hope you guys missed me and thankful to not have that pressure from the organization and to get things right the first time so I’m not in this position again.”
This was the first time in Roldan’s professional career that he had missed any matches with a concussion, which might have been why it wasn’t initially flagged. Roldan trained all week following the St. Louis City game but finally approached the medical staff shortly before the team was set to depart for Portland only to be diagnosed with a concussion. At one point during the recovery process, Roldan had a set-back after exercise caused a recurrence of symptoms, leading the team to take an even more cautions approach.
“It was almost like a whiplash injury, no real blow to the head,” Roldan explained. “It’s difficult to pinpoint if that was the case. I woke up the next day with a massive headache.
“People don’t think concussions are real at times. It’s a sad thing. Players go into really dark places because you have a headache, you don’t feel right and you’re missing time on the field. This was a nice wakeup call for me, and for me and my teammates to reeducate ourselves on the protocols we have to deal with.”
Source: Sounder At Heart
