Soccer <\/p>\n
Seattle Sounders FC<\/a> are one of three MLS teams participating in the expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup<\/a>, hitting the global stage against world-class opponents.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n They secured their place by winning the 2022 Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a>, ending a run of 16 consecutive Mexican clubs that won the competition and becoming the first MLS team to lift the trophy in the modern era.<\/p>\n At the time, the final was a home-and-away series \u2013 or more accurately for the Sounders, an away-and-home series since they\u2019d earned the right to host the second leg against LIGA MX grande Pumas.<\/p>\n But that meant a difficult away leg would set the tone for the series. Plenty of MLS teams have traveled to Mexico and seen their CCC title hopes upended by an adverse result \u2013 especially in a venue like the Estadio Ol\u00edmpico Universitario, Pumas\u2019 historic ground that sits at soaring heights.<\/p>\n The Sounders landed in Mexico two days before Leg 1, and players started to feel the effects of being more than 7,000 feet above sea level.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can certainly feel the altitude,\u201d said midfielder Cristian Roldan<\/a>. \u201cWalking up the stairs, even at the hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n After a night of rest, the Sounders were up relatively early to train.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething unique with Champions League is you tend to train in the stadium the day before,\u201d said goalkeeper Stefan Frei<\/a>. \u201cYou get to see the surroundings, get used to it. But you also got a taste of the altitude a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Frei still remembers the feeling of walking through the tunnel to the locker room underneath the field.<\/p>\n \u201cYou go underneath the field and then walk up a few steps,” he recalled. “Well, it looks like a few steps, but your lungs tell you different.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite, as homegrown midfielder Obed Vargas<\/a> put it, \u201cfeeling the weight of the stadium,” several Sounders also found it to be the perfect stage for a final.<\/p>\n Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said the club “loves going to Mexico City,\u201d and felt the nostalgia of the many great matches played at a stadium that has hosted Olympic and World Cup<\/a> contests, as well as a mural of Diego Rivera created using volcanic rock.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I felt a good energy,\u201d said attacking midfielder Nico Lodeiro<\/a>. \u201cIt was a bit like remembering what it\u2019s like to play in Uruguay. The CU isn\u2019t a modern stadium. The field isn\u2019t either. It\u2019s not like here in MLS or in modern stadiums.<\/p>\n “While it\u2019s a beautiful field, the turf itself is very sort of the old style, it\u2019s thick. I\u2019m used to that from Uruguay,” Lodeiro expanded. “The feeling when we were working the day before, doing the rondos, taking shots, while I felt the altitude a bit, I was ready and really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n After training was over, the team watched a different crazy first leg of Champions League series \u2013 Manchester City\u2019s 4-3 semifinal win over Real Madrid that would be overturned the next week at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u. Then it was time for what several Sounders said was a difficult night\u2019s sleep \u2013 not because of any trickery from Pumas fans, but simply because of the anticipation of what was to come.<\/p>\n In fact, the Sounders hotel was a bit of an oasis of support.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember in the hotel we saw several fans from Seattle. We had a group of fans that were there that had the same dreams as us,\u201d Lodeiro said. \u201cThose things made you feel a positive energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Not every omen was encouraging.<\/p>\n \u201cOne little funny thing, the day of the game, we got served basically breakfast for pre-match. Maybe that was part of the mind games. Maybe it was an honest mistake,\u201d said Albert Rusn\u00e1k<\/a>, who joined the club ahead of the 2022 season.<\/p>\n If evening bacon and eggs were an unwanted surprise, a different surprise was welcome: The weather in Mexico City that night was dreary, with heavy precipitation that reminded players of the skies they see in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n \u201cI love playing in the rain. It\u2019s Seattle weather,\u201d said homegrown forward Jordan Morris<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt rained quite a lot,\u201d Roldan recalled. \u201cI remember the day of the game it rained a lot, and for some reason, the altitude felt a bit less than normal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe like the rain!\u201d Schmetzer said. \u201cThe rain is no problem for us.\u201d<\/p>\n With the rain continuing to fall, both teams settled into the match with Frei making a pair of decent saves in the 10 minutes before the half-hour mark. In the 33rd minute, however, Pumas forward Juan Ignacio Dinenno was fouled in the box and stepped up to take the penalty. Frei pushed the ball up and over the bar, only for Video Review to signal to the referee that the shot needed to be retaken with Frei off the line.<\/p>\n \u201cTop player. We did our homework on PKs. We saw that he liked to go high,\u201d the goalkeeper recalled. \u201cI was super stoked it went high, but obviously they reviewed it and saw that I think I was just barely off the line, which is brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps realizing Frei knew his tendencies, Dinenno sent the second shot low and to the goalkeeper\u2019s left as the Sounders veteran dove right, and Pumas fans roared as \u201cEl Comandante\u201d ran to the stands to celebrate with a salute.<\/p>\n The Sounders reached halftime down 1-0, and everyone remembers feeling fine. Schmetzer recalls asking the team to dial up the intensity.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the captain, you try to motivate the team,\u201d Lodeiro said. \u201cI was trying to stress to my teammates that we can make history. When you play soccer and dream of achieving big things, well, we\u2019re at the door of making history for the city, the club, MLS, the chance to play in the Club World Cup. A lot of things happen in soccer. 1-0, 2-0 \u2013 they\u2019re results that you can turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n That may be true in theory, but the near-immediate second-half opener from Dinenno quickly tested how the Sounders would put their captain\u2019s words into practice.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second goal is an unbelievable header,\u201d Rusn\u00e1k said. \u201cI remember it live from the field. It\u2019s like, there is no one to blame. We took a really nice and hard goal to score.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think that’s the beauty of our game and the beauty of that two-legged series. It changes the dynamics, right? But can you go on the front foot now and, without regard, just go for goal? No, because you take the third and this is over, right?\u201d Frei said. \u201cI think a 2-0 is not a good result. 1-0 was, I think, okay. Can you make 2-0 into 2-1 without being careless and making it a 3-0? Those are all the little nuanced things that I think make this sport very unique, very good.<\/p>\n “There\u2019s tactics. There\u2019s emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n It is fair to say that, while the team\u2019s top tactician had a plan, he was not thinking about the philosophy of soccer at that moment. After conceding a second, Schmetzer\u2019s hope was simply to \u201csurvive. It was survival.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that moment, the shirt gets a little tighter and some of the players might feel it a little bit, but, again, I had veteran players. Nico and Ra\u00fal [Ruid\u00edaz], JP [Jo\u00e3o Paulo] and Albert and Stef, we\u2019d been in situations where things hadn\u2019t gone our way and I think those experiences helped us in this two-leg series.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sounders nearly responded instantly, with Roldan setting up a chance for Ruid\u00edaz that led to a stunning save by Pumas goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera. The veteran shot-stopper, who now coaches young Mexican goalkeepers in a youth national team setup overseen by then-Pumas manager Andr\u00e9s Lillini, was doing everything possible to add a CCC trophy to a cabinet that already included two league titles and a Gold Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\nA road performance for the ages<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle sunshine<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Survival mode<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n