Raúl Ruidíaz won’t be among the Seattle Sounders called away for national duty during the upcoming FIFA window, Perú coach Ricardo Gareca announced on Friday.
“Including players always generates some controversy,” Gareca said. “Raúl Ruidíaz asked to not be included due to issues that he needs to take care of. Essentially those are personal reasons.”
It was not immediately clear what sort of personal reasons Ruidíaz cited. He is arguably Perú’s top option at striker, with Paolo Guerrero having not played since last summer and Jefferson Farfan now 34 years old.