SEATTLE — Unbeknownst to just about anyone outside of the Seattle Sounders, Raúl Ruidíaz played Wednesday’s match with a heavy heart. A day earlier his father, also named Raúl, passed away suddenly.
Shortly after the match, Raúl left to Peru in order to help his family with arrangements. Ruidíaz will return to Seattle on Monday or Tuesday.
“It’s not easy,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer told reporters on Friday. “We respect his privacy, that’s all I’ll say. He’s gone too early. But let’s get busy living, that’s what you have to do.”
Ruidíaz played 86 minutes against LAFC, his longest outing of a season that has been severely hampered by injury.