The 32-year-old Designated Player forward, who will play for Paraguay in the Copa America Centenario this month, has struggled to stay healthy, or score goals, this season.
Hearing Nelson Valdez’s life story, it’s hard not to detect the script of an upcoming Dos Equis marketing campaign.
The Most Interesting Man on the Sounders once chased off armed car thieves and ran into a burning house to save his dog. He sends thousands of dollars back to his hometown each month and buys 1,500 children Christmas presents for 1,500 children every holiday season.
He’s a soccer success story and a humanitarian despite having lived under the bleachers of a youth club’s stadium for two years in his native Paraguay.