USMNT World Cup star Cristian Roldan recalls Adidas commercial 21 years ago in full circle moment

Cristian Roldan’s first taste of footballing fame came when he starred in an adidas World Cup ad in 2005, reprising that role 21 years later as part of the USMNT.
Roldan emerged as a prodigious high school soccer player in the USA, eventually becoming the 2013 Gatorade National Player of the Year, and is in the midst of an 11-year tenure with the Seattle Sounders.
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However, Roldan had already tasted global fame in the sport years earlier, winning an unlikely audition in 2005 over 110 children to star in an adidas ad for the 2026 World Cup.
Roldan has been dazzling everyone with his gifted touch of the football, with his juggling ability at the age of 10 considered ‘prodigious’ by many. As a result, his father forced him to try out in Los Angeles for this adidas ad where they wanted to star a 10-to-12-year-old kid who’s a gifted juggler.
“He came into my room, and he was like, ‘Let’s go, get your stuff, we’re leaving,’” Roldan told MLSsoccer.com. “And I’m like, ‘No, there’s no chance I make it.’ I started crying. I didn’t want to go. He ended up dragging me out of the house.”
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“I juggled in front of the camera, and at the end of the audition, I ended up going to the producers. I said, ‘Look, I wear adidas shoes and adidas shin guards. I think I deserve the part.’”
He’d win the part, and the iconic ‘Impossible is Nothing’ ad where he ties together plastic bags in LA to make a ball to hype up the ’06 World Cup was born.
The grueling 12-hour shoot days gave Roldan a taste of what’s required to succeed at the highest level, and he turned that focus to the sport. As a result, he’s become a USMNT veteran with 47 caps and has emerged as a favored tactical midfield option by manager Mauricio Pochettino.
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Roldan was a part of the USMNT team that landed in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but he was an unused substitute who served primarily as a veteran leader for the young roster. The 31-year-old looked to be on his way out of the national team set-up until Pochettino came in.

Photo by James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images
A resurgent club season and Pochettino’s arrival prompted more opportunities for Roldan, who enjoyed enough of a resurgence to earn a spot for the 2026 World Cup at home.
He was an unused substitute for the USMNT’s wins over Australia and Paraguay, and was expected to feature in their final group game against Turkiye, where the reserves got their chance.
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Unfortunately, Roldan was ruled out before the match with a muscle strain. It seems unlikely he will be able to recover and be reliable for the knockout stages, so he might have missed out on his career-defining World Cup moment.
Nonetheless, the USMNT will rely on his locker room leadership to continue potentially their best FIFA World Cup run since the 1930s.
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