The goal will open up for him with the national team
Ruidíaz has only 2 goals in 4 months of 2023 with two separate injuries, marking his poorest season start since joining Seattle Sounders in 2018. Coach Juan Reynoso heavily relies on Ruidíaz despite his poor international record: 4 goals in 54 matches with Peru's national team over five years.
- Ruidíaz has 2 goals in 4 months of 2023 with two separate injuries
- 4 goals in 54 matches for Peru's national team over five years
- Seattle Sounders paid 6.3 million euros for Ruidíaz in 2018
- Five-week absence will cost him approximately eight matches
- Friendlies against South Korea and Japan now in jeopardy
Peruvian striker Raúl Ruidíaz faces his worst season start with Seattle Sounders, suffering two injuries in four months and missing key matches, jeopardizing his availability for Peru's upcoming friendlies.
Raúl Ruidíaz has had four months to forget. The Seattle Sounders striker, who arrived in Major League Soccer as a franchise player after the club paid 6.3 million euros for him in 2018, has suffered two injuries in quick succession this year and will miss approximately five weeks of play. The first casualty: the friendlies Peru's national team had scheduled against South Korea and Japan, matches that loom large as the Copa América approaches.
This is a particularly bitter turn for coach Juan Reynoso, who has made Ruidíaz a cornerstone of his vision for the national team. When Reynoso took over, one of his first acts was to recall the striker to the squad after he had been absent during the final matches of the previous coaching era. "It's a spectacle to watch Raúl Ruidíaz train," Reynoso said in an interview with Latina. "His quality is beyond question. I trust that at some point the goal will open up for him with the national team." The coach has shown unwavering faith, even starting him against Germany when injuries depleted the forward line.
Yet the numbers tell a different story. In 54 matches for Peru, Ruidíaz has scored just four goals—a stark contrast to his club form. He has gone more than five years without finding the net for his country. In 25 consecutive appearances, he has failed to score. The disparity is so pronounced that observers have begun to question whether his style of play simply does not translate to international football. As one correspondent covering Peruvian players in MLS noted, Ruidíaz thrives when his club builds the attack around him, when teammates feed him constantly in the box. For Peru, the ball arrives differently. The rhythm is different. The space is different.
At club level, the picture has been entirely different. Ruidíaz won the MLS Cup in 2019 and was named the league's best player in 2021 by El País of Uruguay. He sits just six goals behind Seattle's all-time leading scorer. Last year, he scored in the Concacaf Champions League final, delivering the club its first title in that competition and a berth in the Club World Cup. He has been the undisputed starter since his arrival, a rarity in MLS.
But 2023 has been unkind. Two goals in four months, two separate injuries, and now an extended absence that will cost him roughly eight matches with the Sounders. The correspondent who covers these players from the United States described it plainly: this is Ruidíaz's worst season start since joining the club. The injury arrives at a moment when Peru's Copa América preparations cannot afford such disruptions. Reynoso will likely turn to Paolo Guerrero, who is finding his rhythm at Racing Club in Argentina, to fill the void.
The question now is whether Ruidíaz can recover not just physically, but also find the form that made him indispensable to both club and country. Reynoso's faith remains intact. Whether that faith can survive another season of international silence is another matter entirely.
Notable Quotes
It's a spectacle to watch Raúl Ruidíaz train. His quality is beyond question. I trust that at some point the goal will open up for him with the national team.— Coach Juan Reynoso, in interview with Latina
Raúl is a goalscorer of his era. Here in Mexico they love him, in MLS he has an earned name, he is a franchise player. He is a star, and we cannot afford to do without him.— Juan Reynoso, in interview with Deporte Total
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Ruidíaz score so freely for Seattle but struggles so completely with Peru?
It's not just about the player. His club builds the entire attack around him—constant service, space created, rhythm designed for his strengths. Peru doesn't have that luxury. The ball comes differently, the positioning is different, and he's asked to do more with less.
But he's been with Peru for years now. Shouldn't he have adapted?
Some players never do. The international game demands a different kind of intelligence. Ruidíaz is a finisher who needs to be fed. Peru needs a striker who can create, who can hold play, who can function without constant support.
So Reynoso is backing the wrong horse?
Not necessarily wrong—just perhaps stubborn. Reynoso believes in Ruidíaz's quality, and that quality is real. But belief doesn't change the fundamental mismatch between what Ruidíaz does best and what Peru needs him to do.
What happens if he misses the Copa América?
Then Reynoso has to make a choice he's been avoiding. Guerrero is waiting. The question becomes whether Peru's coach can let go of a player he clearly loves, even when the evidence suggests he should.
Is this injury a relief for Reynoso, or a disaster?
Both. It removes the immediate pressure to pick him, but it also removes the possibility that this could be the tournament where it finally clicks. For a coach who believes as deeply as Reynoso does, that's a kind of loss.