TUKWILA, Wash. — After the Seattle Sounders’ match against the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on May 13, fourth-year midfielder Cristian Roldan stood up in Seattle’s postgame locker room to take questions from the media.
Just a few minutes earlier, the Sounders had been dealt a gut-wrenching 1-0 defeat following a late game-winning goal from Timbers midfielder Sebastian Blanco — a tally that singlehandedly undid 80-plus minutes of hard defensive work that had put the Sounders in position to escape with a road point.
Fielding questions from reporters isn’t always the most fun part of being a professional athlete, but it can be a particularly unglamorous task following such a deflating loss.