Seattle Sounders center back Roman Torres, who only recently returned from his long term knee injury, probably gave some fans a bit of a fright when he wasn’t in Panama’s match day squad for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica. Luckily it wasn’t due to injury, but rather because his coaches were just giving him a break after going the full 90 in his previous game. According to Torres, he feels “a little tired” but is “ready to play” against the Earthquakes—the team the Sounders were playing when Torres tore his ACL last season—on Saturday.
Even though most fans don’t need any convincing after his play against Portland and Fanendo Adi two weeks ago, Torres says he’s still not at his best.