Sounders Fail to Capitalize in Home Leg of Champions Cup Tie with Cruz Azul
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Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Cristian Roldan (7) steals the ball from Cruz Azul defender Omar Campos (3) during the second half of a Concacaf Champions Cup match at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington on 05 Mar 2025. (Photo credit Nate Koppelman/Alamy Live News) [/caption]
Coming into the matchday, if you were to tell Seattle Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer that he would come out of the home leg of the Champions Cup tie with Mexican powerhouse Cruz Azul even at 0-0, there’s a good chance he would have signed up for that result.
However, when it became known that the Mexican side would be without a number of their top attacking options in the lineup, Seattle would have entered kickoff knowing the door was open to take a much needed advantage going into leg two in Mexico City.
In a cagey first half where Seattle would struggle to create many opportunities, it was very clear that the away side came into the match with a game plan to be pragmatic and not concede. The Sounders would finally get their feet under them at the tail end of the first half, creating multiple scoring chances before halftime signaling the home side were not going to be easily kept out.
Early in the second half, those manufactured chances would come to fruition as the Sounders started the second half with masterful possession for two-plus minutes and earned themselves a corner. After the initial corner was cleared, Albert Rusnak recovered and played through Cristian Roldan as the Sounders standout would send in a teasing cross to Nouhou Tolo at the six-yard box. Nouhou headed the ball off the crossbar and out of play, warning shots once again from the home side in a tightly contested match.
in the 51st minute, following more Sounders possession as they were probing for the opener, an inch perfect through ball from Rusnak came to Paul Arriola, who then laid it off to Pedro de la Vega, who followed up by slotting it home to seemingly give Seattle an all-important 1-0 lead. But during his celebration, de la Vega noticed the offsides flag pop up from the linesman, as a Video Assistance Referee check ensued.
Much to the chagrin of Schmetzer, the check completed and no goal was granted, leaving the coach questioning the call after the game.
“It’s questionable if Paul was offside,” Schmetzer said regarding the incident post-game. “I’m not so sure CONCACAAF has all the cameras that needed to be there in that moment.”
After the back-breaking penalty, Sounders forward Jordan Morris would also get a chance to put Seattle in front at minute 70. After a Roldan duel win which sent him in behind the Cruz Azul defense, Morris did well to get his left footed shot off and beat Kevin Mier, but couldn’t beat the post as a second chance would be denied by the woodwork for Seattle.
After a number of chances for the visitors, the rest of the second half would start to calm down as both teams settled in to the reality of a 0-0 draw in leg one, not wanting to make the mistake to put their team down.
All in all, a scoreless draw on Wednesday night by no means a catastrophic result for Seattle this early in the season, but the chances were there to be had to eek out a victory. From a positive standpoint, it is an encouraging sign that a bona fide Mexican powerhouse came in to Lumen Field and felt they had to sit back to and keep a clean sheet, regardless of who was available.
However, the happier of the two sides going back to Mexico for leg 2 ultimately has to be Cruz Azul with everything to play for on their own home turf, and attacking options waiting in the wings to return to action.
