Left backs in MLS have become used to it. You run, you work, you battle, and you get the ball off a Roldan only to find he’s been able to shuttle the ball to…another Roldan.
It’s become routine to see Cristian Roldan and Alex Roldan linking up for the Seattle Sounders. They’ve now played together in more than 200 matches since Alex – 13 months younger – made his MLS debut in March, 2018.
But it’s rare for one family member to make it as a professional soccer player, much less two. For them to play on the same team, having won the Concacaf Champions Cup together? For them to be getting set for a playoff showdown with LAFC this weekend, pushing for another trophy, then taking part together in the 2025 Club World Cup? It’s anything but routine.
“We don’t take it for granted,” Cristian told Backheeled. “It’s so special to be able to play alongside your brother and battle each and every weekend on the soccer field together, like we were kids in our backyard. It’s a special treat that we get to live like this and are blessed to be not only able to play the sport professionally but to do it alongside each other.”
There were many times when the brothers wondered not if they’d ever play together on a professional team but if they’d even be able to play soccer at the collegiate level. Alex remembers that despite standing out in high school, college offers were few and far between for both brothers, especially the full scholarship offers they were seeking to help their family afford their post-high school studies.
Offers were scarce at least in part because many top programs were signing players from well-known academy programs. The Roldans couldn’t get in front of the same college coaches at as many top showcases.
“We grew up playing in a club soccer team run by a friend of our mom’s,” Alex recalled. “He told us we wouldn’t have to pay for anything in terms of club fees and things like that. We were in a very low-end club team that didn’t really expose us to good opportunities in terms of tournaments.
“We just didn’t have the exposure that other players certainly do.”
Despite having to rely on their mom’s connection, Cristian eventually burst onto the map with his high school exploits at El Rancho High School, earning the 2013 Gatorade National Player of the Year and landing at the University of Washington. A year later, Alex got an 11th hour offer from Seattle University, heading to the same city where his brother already was impressing on his way to signing a Generation Adidas deal and being selected by the Sounders in the draft.
Their father immigrated from Guatemala and worked as a mechanic. Their mother immigrated from El Salvador, the nation Alex suited up for on 25 occasions from 2021-2023. Those examples in the home helped them keep working to first get to college soccer, then to turn the sport into a career.
“Our parents being immigrants really taught us how to not take things for granted and to work really hard for what we love to do and what we wanted,” Alex said.
