Sounders Return Home For Second Leg with Tigres Trying to Repeat Comeback History
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Seattle Sounders midfielder Paul Rothrock pushing the ball up the field against Tigres during a Concacaf Champions Cup match on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at Estadio Universitario in San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico. (Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]
The Seattle Sounders aren't an easy club to faze.
The squad has won the MLS Cup, Supporters' Shield, U.S. Open Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup and Leagues Cup in its storied history since joining MLS in 2009. With that amount of credibility in its trophy cabinet, Seattle is respected across the continent as a perennial contender.
So when the Sounders went to Monterrey last Wednesday to face Liga MX side Tigres UANL at el Volcan (the Volcano), as their stadium is known, Seattle was always going to compete for a result.
But the Sounders, thanks in part to poor offensive quality and elite play by Tigres in tight spaces, dropped the first-leg matchup 2-0 to fall in a deep hole in this Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal fixture.
For Paul Rothrock, who leads the team with five goals in eight games across all competitions, missed chances were what doomed the Sounders in Mexico. The Sounders generated just 0.5 expected goals, but Rothrock’s 48th-minute strike from just inside the box that sailed on him stood out.
"I had two good chances that I could have put away and didn't," Rothrock said. "You think about those after."
The Sounders return to Lumen Field for the first time since Feb. 22 for the second leg of the continental competition on Wednesday night, playing on grass instead of the unusual artificial turf thanks to the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
In Seattle's last Concacaf fixture with Tigres in 2013, the Sounders also lost the first leg of the quarterfinal 1-0 to head home with ground to make up.
And ground they made up, as stars DeAndre Yedlin and Djimi Traoré scored once-in-a-lifetime goals while Eddie Johnson netted the winner in the 74th minute of the 3-1 win. The Sounders even overcame Tigres' Elías Hernández netting the opening goal in that second leg, something Schmetzer would rather not deal with this time around, with the deficit twice as big.
Although Schmetzer said the team had "brought it up earlier," he's choosing to focus on the task at hand.
"That was certainly a good memory, and 2021 (Leagues Cup win) was a good memory when they came here and we were able to win 3-0, but that's the past," Schmetzer said. "We understand that that is just the past, we understand the moment is now… we know the scoreline, we know the objective."
To Seattle's favor, the Rave Green are quite proficient at holding their own at home in continental competitions.
The Sounders are 11-4-3 at Lumen Field against all Liga MX comers, and showed their savvy by beating four Mexican sides by a combined score of 11-2 at home in their first Leagues Cup title run last summer.
"Lumen's a special place. There's been a lot of magical games played in this stadium," Rothrock said. "We'll take inspiration from the fans tomorrow… this team has always been a better team at home."
To Rothrock's point, the Sounders went 10-1-6 at home in MLS play last season, while Tigres is 7-4-4 on the road in league play this season.
In the first leg, the Sounders leaned on experience by starting Paul Arriola over lead assist man Jesús Ferreira and Jordan Morris over Danny Musovski or Osaze De Rosario. Schmetzer called the moves "tactical" in nature.
While the team was able to win timely fouls thanks to the savvy of the older starting XI, not having Ferreira on the pitch only added to what was a tough offensive night for Seattle.
Needing goals early and often, expect Schmetzer to get Ferreira on the pitch early to try and rekindle the connection he's built with DP Albert Rusnák, who is off to a slower start this season.
But to win against Liga MX squads, physicality will always come first.
Schmetzer noted that Tigres did a good job of setting picks to free up their players on set-pieces, with Jackson Ragen's 76th-minute own-goal off a corner kick being the prime example. Osaze De Rosario was unable to fight through contact to stay with his man in defender Joaquim.
With Joaquim fighting to the ball unmarked, Ragen made incidental contact to direct the ball past keeper Stefan Frei to double the deficit.
Rothrock acknowledged the Sounders need to bring it from the first whistle to stand a chance on Wednesday.
"It took us a little bit too long to match them in that battle. Speaking personally, I noticed that we stepped it up when there was that foul on Cristian (Roldan in the 57th minute), but that was far too late in the game to do that," Rothrock said. "We're going to approach this game a little bit differently from that standpoint."
