Raúl Ruidíaz's injury leaves him out of the Seattle Sounders' team
Recently, the Peruvian national team received the news that Raúl Ruidíaz had been injured while playing in the MLS in the United States, which sparked a reaction from many fans of the team. However, the national forward had recovered and was included in the starting lineup of the Seattle Sounders against Nashville, but at the last minute he left the team and did not even appear on the bench.
This is because, as reported by sports journalist Alonso El Inca through his official Twitter account, Raúl Ruidíaz felt some back pain during the warm-up prior to the Major League Soccer match, so his team's coaching staff decided to leave him out of tonight's game, in which Seattle drew 0-0 away.
As a result, 'La Pulga' (the Flea) will be absent from the Peruvian national team for the matches against Chile and Argentina on Matchdays 3 and 4, respectively, of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. This is especially significant because the international fixtures will take place on October 12 and 17, in other words, in a week and a half.
Raúl Ruidíaz may improve in the coming days, but it will be up to Juan Reynoso to decide whether or not to take the risk in these matches, although the last time he called him up, he faced criticism from the entire fanbase because many blamed the former Universitario de Deportes player for not defending well in Brazil's goal against Peru at the Estadio Nacional.
Numerical stats of Raúl Ruidíaz with the Peruvian national team
In a total of 54 matches with the Peruvian national team, Raúl Ruidíaz has only scored 4 goals, which is why fans are demanding more from him, especially considering that he is a natural goal scorer for Seattle Sounders. With the national team, two of his goals came in friendlies, one in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, and the remaining one in the 2016 Copa América.