Once word spread that Cruz Azul coach Vicente Sánchez left seven of his top players in Mexico City, speculation was the Liga MX powerhouse would sit in a defensive stance against the Sounders and play for the win next week.
That was quickly debunked Wednesday in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 series. Both sides were physical with a palpable want to score.
But the fiery play on a chilly night at Lumen Field didn’t amount to anything. The Sounders were left with a 0-0 draw in their first meeting against Cruz Azul.
Away goals are the tournament’s first tiebreaker, so Wednesday’s outcome could be viewed as a positive for both sides. The second leg is Tuesday at Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City.
The facility is the home of Pumas UNAM, who the Sounders defeated en route to winning the 2022 Champions Cup title. La Máquina is using it as their home field while they continue plans to build their own stadium.
“We will be under it, for sure,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. “They can play their starters down there, but we will come out and give it a good effort and see if we can’t sneak a goal because we were close [Wednesday.]”
Before the Sounders (2-0-1) can prepare for the rematch, they’ll host Los Angeles FC at Lumen on Saturday. Seattle upset LAFC in the Western Conference playoff semifinals last fall.
Topping the list of missing Cruz Azul players was striker Ángel Sepúlveda, who scored three goals in the opening round series against Haiti’s Real Hope. Sánchez said the decisions were made because of fitness.
La Máquina (The Machine) did return center back Willer Ditta to the starting lineup. The Colombian missed a league match last week due to food poisoning.
Ditta snuffed out two possible goals for Sounders forward Jordan Morris. The first was a breakaway run in the 15th minute. Ditta blocked the right-footed attempt.
Morris later had a header attempt in the 43rd minute. It flew over the crossbar.
Fouls gave Cruz Azul good positioning for attempts in the first half, but it couldn’t get a clean look either. Polish international Mateusz Bogusz had the best chance with a free kick in the 24th minute. The former LAFC winger scored three goals against the Sounders the past two years.
Bogusz mashed Wednesday’s attempt into Seattle’s wall. Other runs toward goal were muddled by Sounders left back Nouhou, sending the match into the break goalless.
Seattle emerged from the locker room inspired. Nouhou had a header hit the crossbar in the 48th minute then Sounders winger Pedro de la Vega got the bipartisan crowd of 27,844 whipped up with a would-be score in the 52nd minute.
Cruz Azul keeper Kevin Mier was playing high off his line the entire match. He seemed to get caught when he couldn’t corral a Paul Arriola attempt. De la Vega pounced on the loose ball and beamed a shot into goal. But the effort — and wild celebration run — were erased by Arriola being ruled offside.
“The stadium would’ve erupted if Nouhou gets that header on frame,” Schmetzer said. “And it’s questionable if Paul was offside. Very questionable. Paul is little, compact and the guy is stretching his arms. I’m not so sure CONCACAF has all the cameras that needed to be there in that moment.”
Morris seemed to have the needed score in the 70th minute. Mier tipped the shot that rolled and pinged off the post.
Cruz Azul (2-0-1) got a soft chance past the Sounders back line in the 79th minute. Sounders keeper Stefan Frei made the easy save. A chance by Luka Bezzana in the 90th minute took more skill, but Frei still made the stop to collect Seattle’s first clean sheet of the season.
“The start to our league season hasn’t been great, there’s been a couple of mistakes,” Schmetzer said of his defenders conceding two own goals in a pair of MLS matches. “The games are so close together, we can’t train a ton on the field. But we made sure we did our jobs to make sure we saw the things we wanted to improve on defensively. Those guys have a lot of pride in what they do, so I give a lot of credit to them.”
Schmetzer was able to utilize one of his stronger lineups. He made four changes from the 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday. Right wingback Alex Roldan returned after supporting his wife in the birth of their first child.
Center back Jackson Ragen was rested against RSL and slotted back in alongside Yeimar. De la Vega and Arriola, who combined for five goals in last month’s series against Guatemalan side Antigua GFC, started on the wings Wednesday.
Sounders forward Jesús Ferreira subbed on for de la Vega in the 67th minute. Arriola was subbed off for Georgi Minoungou in the 77th minute.
“The second half was in our favor, so we’ll see how it goes down there,” Schmetzer said.
