CONCACAF Champions League: How Serious Was Seattle?

"[The] Seattle side was clearly better," according to SB Nation Seattle Sounders FC blog Sounder At Heart, an observation supported by the statistical record.  Seattle had fifteen shots, five on goal.  Visiting Isidro Metapán?  Two and one.

That dominance didn't translate where it matters: on the scoreboard.  Still, as Dave Clark notes, Seattle is in control:

This was one of those matches like we saw early in the year, where the Seattle side was clearly better. The difference is that the fluke goal went in their favor. The 1-nil win isn't as good as it should have been, but it puts them in the driver seat.

It means that as long as Seattle has the edge heading towards the second leg. Any result down in El Salvador with Metapan +1 Goal (except a 1-nil) means that Seattle advances to the Group stage. If the aggregate is tied at 1-1 after regulation in the next match we will see extra time, and then a Penalty Shootout.

Dave has more from the match at Sounder at Heart: full match report, boxscore, and post-match quotes from the main actors, not to mention a lively discussion about the night's result. You can read more in Sounders Dominate, but Edge Metapan In 1st Leg of CCL.

Seattle Sounders took a tenuous lead in their CONCACAF Champions League qualifying tie with Isidiro Metapán, with a 60th minute goal from Fredy Montero giving the Major League Soccer outfit a 1-0 lead ahead of next Tuesday's match in El Salvador.

Sounders coach Sigi Schmid started all of Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani and Montero on the bench, but by the 60th minute, the three Sounders' standouts had been subbed-on.  Less than a minute after the last change - Montero for Nate Jaqua - Seattle had their lead when Metapán goalkeeper Misael Alfaro a long shot from Montero.

Despite outshooting the Salvadorians 15-2 (and 5-1 in shots on goal), Seattle had to settle for a 1-0 lead after a match characterized more by fouls than scoring chances.  Thirty-seven fouls were whistled, though only five cards were handed out.

The Sounders now head into a Saturday match at San Jose before their trip to San Salvador, and while only coming out of their home leg with a 1-0 lead could be seen as a slight disappointment, Seattle prevented an away goal, meaning one goal at Metapán would force their hosts to score three to win the tie.

The bigger question coming out of last night's match revolves around Seattle's approach.  For all the talk leading into the match about taking the competition seriously, the Sounders started their second team.  Are they truly intent on winning this competition, yet are underestimating Metapán?  Or, have their comments in the media been deferential lip-service?

Sigi Schmid's willingness to bring on Alonso, Zakuani and Montero - the team's three best healthy players - hints that while Seattle intends to take the competition seriously, there's still a need to manage resources.  While Seattle - fighting for a playoff spot in MLS - may choose a Champions League title over getting into the playoffs, that's not a choice the team needs to make.  If resources are managed right, they could maintain their chance at both.  Starting all his best players on the bench may backfire come next Tuesday, but the move didn't mean the Sounders were scoffing at the tournament.

Regardless, there seemed to be disappointment amongst online Seattle fans when Schmid's lineup was announced.  The respect the Sounders showed to the competition leading up to Wednesday's match told fans that Metapán would be taken more seriously.  Montero would play.  Alonso would play.  Zakuani would play, and Seattle would put their best foot forward.

Last night, they didn't, and now, between Toronto, Los Angeles and Seattle's plights, Major League Soccer has a realistic chance of "topping" last year's disappointing preliminary round performance.  Then, one team advanced to group stage, joining the league's two automatic qualifiers.  This year, the league may have to settle for just those two.  We'll see next week.

Speaking of Next Week

While CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round action continues tonight with El Salvador's FAS hosting Guatemala's Xelajú, Major League Soccer's entrants won't be in action again until next week.  On Tuesday, Toronto takes their 1-0 lead to Honduras to face Motagua, while Seattle carries the same scoreline into their match at Isidro Metapán.  Then on Wednesday, Los Angeles will need at least four goals in Bayamón to overturn Puerto Rico's 4-1 advantage.

One year removed from the embarrassment of having two teams eliminated in the preliminary round, Major League Soccer saw a positive start to this year's CONCACAF Champions League.  Though Toronto FC can't be too excited by their 1-0 win over Honduras's Motagua, a win's a win, the old truism holds, with this win marking a huge turnaround from last year. 

Then, in the first match of their preliminary round tie, Toronto lost to the Puerto Rico Islanders 1-0 at BMO.  A win over Motagua has to be a much greater achievement than a close loss to those lowly, second division Puerto Rico Islanders, right?

Most reading this will have picked up on the question's sarcasm, and after last night's performance at Home Depot Center, even labeling PRI "second division" carries a heavy amount of paradox.

At Major League Soccer-leading Los Angeles Galaxy, Puerto Rico posted a 4-1 victory.  David Foley and Nicolas Addlery had PRI up 2-0 at halftime, with Josh Hansen's goal ten minutes after break affirming the Galaxy nightmare.  Addlery added a fourth late, with an own goal giving Los Angeles their only consolation.

The Galaxy's Champions League is now on life support, needing to turn around the three goal margin next week at the Estadio Juán Rámon Loubriel.  In the interim, Bruce Arena needs to determine what went wrong.

Los Angeles clearly did not bring a Champions League-level effort to last night's game, part of MLS clubs' continued underestimation of both  Division II teams and the commitment needed to do well in this competition.  How many Puerto Rico Islanders or Montreal Impacts need to make Champions League waves before Major League Soccer gives them their due respect?

But in addition, Puerto Rico was exceedingly efficient, converting almost every chance they creating, capitalizing on a series of poor performances at the back from a Galaxy team that's allowing just over half-a-goal per match in league this year.

If one or two of these factors were absent, Puerto Rico still wins, and we are still left wondering why Major League Soccer's best team lost to a club at the bottom of their Division II conference.  But in last night's 4-1 result, there was an element of stars aligning.  Whereas last year one of USL-1's best teams knocked-out a struggling MLS side, this year a middle-of-the-table USSF Division II team routed the MLS's gold standard.

I never knew gold was worth so little.

A team with Los Angeles's talent can't be written off for next week's return leg.  Still, the Galaxy play Chicago on Sunday in league action while Puerto Rico have the weekend off.  That weekend match could provide Los Angeles their excuse to re-focus on league play and become the latest, beguiling Champions League failure for MLS.

And On Toronto ...

Not to overlook Toronto, who got a first half goal from Chad Barrett to build a 1-0 lead for the return leg in Honduras, but their match now seems like last night's forgettable but good appetizer.  "Yeah, that was good. 

"Too bad dinner gave me food poisoning." 

Still, TFC got the result they couldn't get last year, giving them reason for hope come next week.

Motagua still has to be considered the favorite.  It had been three months since their last match, with the effects of the lay-off evident in their inability to craft a final ball.  That rust combined with the travel made their 0-1 loss a relatively good result. 

Seattle's Champions League Debut

Seattle Sounders FC hosts Metápan tonight at Qwest Field, and to the club's credit, they seem intent on bringing more intensity than was seen from Los Angeles last night.

As featured at Sounder at Heart:

Whether it was Steve Zakuani and Sigi Schmid openly comparing the CCL to Europe's much more famous version or Fredy Montero basically saying that he'd rather play in this game than the MLS All-Star Game against Manchester United, it's pretty clear the Sounders have received that message.

"This is our Champions League," Zakuani said. "We all grew up watching the European Champions League. It's the same magnitude, but it's our region. I think we're going to be focused on that game (as opposed to the All-Star Game)."

In it's short history in Major League Soccer, Seattle has brought a refreshing energy and perspective to the league, something that could help Major League Soccer solve Champions League struggles that continue to disappoint fans.  Perhaps Seattle is too new to the league to know that you're supposed to hedge your bets in Champions League - give yourself an excuse, should the competition prove too much to battle.  Perhaps Seattle will treat the competition like a confederation championship.

Are they really that naive?  Let's hope so.

For more on Seattle's preparations for tonight's match, you can visit Sounder at Heart or read Sounders saying all right things about CCL.

SB Nation Seattle Sounders FC blog Sounder at Heart (S@H) has made a habit of creating reference cards for eachnd match, one of the innovations for which S@H's become know.  Create by Jeremiah Oshan, the downloadable, printable cards come in handy for events like CONCACAF Champions League, where most of the players will be relative unknowns.

Here is Jeremiah's card for Wednesday's match between SSFC and Metapan at Qwest Field:

Click on the image to download a (clearer) PDF version of the file.

For more information about the match and Sounder soccer in general, you can visit Sounder at Heart.