On Wednesday night, the Seattle Sounders continued their participation in the CONCACAF Champions Cup as they took on Antigua GFC in Round One. The Sounders won the first leg 3-1, with goals coming from Jesus Ferreira, Pedro de la Vega and Albert Rusnak. Though Seattle did boast a two-goal cushion and had the away goals rule to their advantage, there was still work to be done at Lumen Field.
Though the match was evenly contested in the opening minutes, Seattle took control of the match in the 24th minute, as Pedro de la Vega scored his second goal of the tournament. The play leading up to the opening goal was facilitated by Jordan Morris, as he laid the ball off to de la Vega, and even if his initial shot was saved by Luis Moran, the Antigua goalkeeper, de la Vega was able to finish off the fantastic play. For de la Vega, this was his first goal at home as a Sounder.
"I needed to score here at home so I am very happy for that," said de la Vega, in Spanish.
Now with a three-goal lead on aggregate, the Sounders seemed to back off a bit and allowed the Guatemalan team to get back in the game. Antigua began putting together some solid play in the final third, forcing Andrew Thomas to make a couple of saves, even if they were relatively simple ones.
In the first minute of first half stoppage time, however, Antigua got a lifeline. Cristian Hernandez played a beautiful ball towards the back post, finding the run of Jose Galvez, who volleyed the ball into the back of the net.
Seattle retook command of the game in the 53rd minute, when Paul Arriola gave the home side their second goal of the night. In the build-up, Arriola slotted a perfectly-weighted pass out wide to his former FC Dallas teammate, Jesus Ferreira, who then found Arriola unmarked in the center of the box, allowing him to put the ball past the keeper.
Up until this point in the match, the situation was similar to last Saturday, when Seattle took on Charlotte FC. The Sounders had taken back the lead in the opening segments of the second half and had to find a way to close out the game in strong fashion, something they failed to do against Charlotte.
de la Vega made sure that the Sounders ended the match on a positive note as he added another tally in the 88th minute.
Seattle ended the night with 61 percent possession, showcasing the side's ability to confidently control the flow of the match. Antigua evidently had trouble stopping the Sounders from maintaining solid possession of the ball.
"Something we struggle with is the ease of positioning that the opposing team has after one or two touches," said Mauricio Tapia, head coach of Antigua, in Spanish.
Keeping the ball in a meaningful way, while tiring the opposing team as they chase the game, is a tactic that the Sounders should look to perfect as it will bear positive results in close games in which they have the lead.
This Round One victory over Antigua FC puts Seattle into the Round of 16 against Liga MX side Cruz Azul. Though the Sounders will not have home field advantage in the second leg of the matchup, any potential adversity should not faze the club as they have successful history in this tournament, as the Rave Green were the first MLS side to win the competition in 2022.
"We take every single competition seriously. Every game. We want to come out and we want to win. That's the DNA of this club. Always will be," said Schmetzer.
The Sounders will be back in MLS action this coming Saturday as they go on the road to take on Real Salt Lake at 1:30pm PT.
The first leg against Cruz Azul will take place at Lumen Field on Wednesday, March 5th at 7:30pm PT.
