The Seattle Sounders have written their name in American soccer history tonight. The team, which has one of the best fans in the United States, packed a stadium with 68,000 souls to give the local sport a new title: champions of the Concacaf Champions League (the confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean ). The squad won 3-0 after a tough game against UNAM’s Pumas, a plucky opponent full of youngsters who unknowingly lost this final a week ago in Mexico City when they let a two-goal home lead slip away. The Sounders fulfill the mission that their general manager, Garth Lagerwey, was looking for: a victory that would make them an “immortal” club. The victory breaks a streak of 16 years of hegemony of Mexican teams.
The first part was marked by hard tackles and hits. It was a Concacaf textbook game, a region where fortune tends to smile on those who best resist punishment on the pitch. The excess of the physical style limited the exits of both teams from the sides from very early on and focused the traffic on the central part of the Lumen field, with synthetic grass. The cats showed early their interest in following the script of the first part of this final: defend their goal and bet on a counterattack that could surprise the Americans.
Pumas softened the Sounders with blows. The university students accumulated 13 fouls in the first half (20 in the entire game to 10 for the locals) and two yellow cards (for José Galindo and Leonel López). This hard style set the pace of the start and frustrated the plans raised by Brian Schmetzer. The coach, visibly frustrated, lost two of his starters before the clock struck the first 30 minutes of the game. Cameroonian winger Nouhou left the field due to injury. Minutes later, the Sounders suffered another loss in midfield with the departure of Brazilian Joao Paulo, who was replaced by Mexican American Obed Vargas, just 16 years old.
The Peruvian Raúl Ruidiaz gave the first warnings that the wall that he had sent to the Andrés Lilini camp could crack. The first call was made in the 14th minute with a timid header that ended up in the hands of Alfredo Talavera, the solid goalkeeper of the university students. The Sounders stepped more into the area of their enemies in the first half, but they did not do it clearly.
The goal came in discount. Xavier Arreaga received the ball in the enemy area, near the penalty spot. He passed it to Ruidiaz, who already had his right leg ready for the shot, which was deflected by the university defense. Talavera couldn’t correct his trajectory or get to the ball. The moment erased the bitter memory of a difficult start for the more than 68,000 spectators, who did not stop singing for their team.
The Pumas wanted to correct what fate seemed to impose in the second half. The roles were reversed and they jumped onto the field armed with the claw that characterizes them in search of cutting distances on the scoreboard. They were more dangerous offensively in the complement, but the moment of greatest danger was brought by a free kick taken by the Argentine Juan Dinenno, who later received the award for the league’s top scorer. Lilini’s team had only one shot on goal in the 90 minutes. Those of the UNAM extend a drought of titles of more than a decade.
The urgency finally opened the game in its last minutes. Pumas was looking for the discount more eagerly than soccer, which Seattle knew how to take advantage of with an offensive woven from the right side that took the university defense badly. Ruidiaz waited in the area, where he did not spare with a shot hit the right post. The initiative of the locals ended up weighing on the university students, who minutes before the end saw Uruguayan Nicolás Lodeiro score the third goal of the night. This goal gave the long-awaited title to the Sounders and consolidated Seattle to what it is, one of the largest soccer capitals in the United States.
The Sounders legend had been in the making for a long time. In one of the headers of the Lumen, the local fans showed three monumental messages to the visitors. “Kings of Cascadia”, for their hegemony in the regional classic against the Portland team; “MLS Monarchs”, where they have won two titles in three finals and “Coming soon: Concacaf”. That was the route that the team traced to become a team from the northwest corner of the country in a squad with international projection. That is what they wanted to show the world. Only two American teams had won the current Champions League precedent. DC United did it in 1998 and the Los Angeles Galaxy did the same 22 years ago.
The Sounders’ bet was very clear this season. The club was looking for an international title, so it slackened in the search for the conquest of the MLS, where it is in 12th place (of 14) in the western conference with only two wins in seven games. In the Concacaf competition, however, he closed an undefeated campaign tonight. They drew all of their away games and beat all of their rivals in the laps. Today they have a ticket to the FIFA Club World Cup, a competition that does not yet have a name. It will be a new opportunity for Seattle and the United States to build their reputation in international soccer.
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