(Washington Insider Magazine) The Seattle Sounders made history in 2022 with the first Concacaf Champions League for an MLS team and the Peruvian international Raúl Ruidíaz, one of his great references, assured this Tuesday that this was just one more step in the growth of the league.
“MLS has been showing, for a few years now, that it is growing a lot. Last year was the big test (with the Sounders title). I think that from now on MLS is going to give a lot to talk about,” stated the striker.
2023 Celebration
The MLS celebrates its 2023 ‘Media Day’ this Tuesday in San José (California, USA), an official open day for the media ahead of the new season that will begin on February 25.
The new course comes with homework for the Sounders, who in 2022, and for the first time in their 14-year history, were left out of the MLS Cup ‘playoffs’.
“We did not do things as we had to do after winning a great tournament (the Concacaf Champions League). The next step is to maintain or exceed the level and ours was not like that,” he admitted about a year of contrasts that defined as “very strange”.
“But hey, that’s in the past and now we focus on this year only,” he added.
Ruidíaz, who was one of those affected by the injuries that hampered the team’s performance in 2022, added 9 goals and 2 assists in 18 games.
The Peruvian said he feels “super good” physically to face 2023 and stressed that he is especially excited about Seattle’s participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in Morocco.
“We are very excited about this great tournament. It is the most important in the history of Sounders. We are preparing ourselves in the best way both physically and mentally to do things well,” he said.
Lastly, Ruidíaz spoke about the signing of Brazilian striker Héber, who last year scored 10 goals for New York City.
“He is an excellent player. The attack will give us a lot on the subject (…). come with me,” he said.
This article is originally published on es.sports.yahoo.com
