On Wednesday night, the Seattle Sounders took on Liga MX side Cruz Azul, in the first leg of their Round of 16 matchup. Fresh off a 2-0 defeat to Real Salt Lake in MLS regular season play, the Sounders were looking to bounce back. In that match, Seattle looked uninspired offensively for large stretches, though, granted, it was a heavily rotated starting eleven. Given that the second leg against Cruz Azul will take place in Mexico City, the Sounders had to find a way to get their offense into high gear and establish a comfortable lead before heading south of the border.
Heading into this matchup, the visitors stood at 6th place in the Liga MX standings with a record of 5W-3D-2L. Before heading to Pacific Northwest, they had played Mazatlan to a 1-1 road draw in league play. It should be noted that six players that are considered starters, such as former Atlanta United striker, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Charly Rodriguez and Angel Sepulveda, to name a few, did not make the trip.
During the opening the minutes of the match, "Azul!!" chants rained across Lumen Field. It was clear that the visiting side had brought out their fair share of support. Being one of the most popular clubs in Mexico, Cruz Azul could happily enjoy a sense of home field advantage, despite being thousands of miles away from home.
The match began well enough for Cruz Azul as they were on the front foot and looked to be the more dangerous side. Seattle just could not find a way to get past the half line with sustained possession and confidence.
Seattle weathered the storm, however, and began to find their footing. In the 15th minute, Jordan Morris made a great run in behind and found himself running at the keeper for about 40 yards. Cruz Azul defender Willer Ditta made a sensational tackle and robbed Morris of getting a solid shot on goal.
Solid chances were few and far between throughout the first half. While Cruz Azul took most of the possession, they were unable to create premium opportunities for themselves. They only had one shot on goal in the entire half. This was testament to how well the Sounders were organized in their defensive third.
"The start of our league season hasn't been great [defensively]. There's been a couple of mistakes and so we watched a lot of film as a collective," said Seattle manager Brian Schmetzer. "We made sure that we did our jobs to make sure that [the players] saw some of the things we want to improve on defensively."
Despite the defensive prowess that was displayed by the Sounders, the attack could not get anything substantial going in the opening 45 minutes. The side was going very direct and trying to get in behind the Cruz Azul backline. Seattle had 0 shots on target at halftime. Clearly, something had to change on the offensive side of the ball for the Sounders to gain an advantage.
The second half was much more spirited for Seattle. Nouhou hit the crossbar off a header in the 48th minute. Then, just three minutes later, Pedro de la Vega seemed to have given the hosts the lead, after Cruz Azul keeper Kevin Mier misplayed the ball after having come off his line. The Argentine was off to the races, heading towards the corner flag, flailing his arms in celebration, only to find out that the play was offside. Paul Arriola was deemed to be off when he made the initial run to get the sequence started.
The Sounders would come close to finding the opening goal yet again in the 70th minute when Morris rattled a shot off the post. The Rave Green were getting the opportunities, but unfortunately for them, none found the back of the net as the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
"I thought we had a good game. I thought we created really good chances. I thought we should have been able to put one away," said Arriola.
Seattle will need more than a good game when they head down to Mexico City. They will have to maintain the stability in the back while having the necessary tenacity to find the ever-important away goal.
"I think it's a tough balance, because [Cruz Azul] is a team that entices you to press a little bit. It's a team that has a lot of the ball and so, how can we be compact defensively and pick our moment to attack," said Cristian Roldan. "If we can score one down there, that puts a lot of pressure on Cruz Azul."
The Sounders are back in MLS action this coming Saturday as they will be taking on LAFC at Lumen Field. Kickoff is set for 1:45pm PT.
The second leg against Cruz Azul will take place at Estadio Olimpico Universitario in Mexico City on Tuesday, March 11th, at 5:30pm PT.
