The Seattle Sounders are all in on Chivas.
After starting a rotational lineup on Sunday in the MLS season opener against LAFC, the second of three matches in a seven-day span, the Sounders saved their best for the Mexican giants from Guadalajara on Wednesday in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals (7 p.m. PT | TICKETS).
Perhaps no one is more familiar with the Sounders’ next opponent than assistant coach Gonzalo Pineda, who made over 100 appearances for Chivas from 2006-09. He won one of his three Liga MX titles with Chivas in 2006 and played for the Mexican national team at the FIFA World Cup in Germany that same year. He was Head Coach Ricardo Antonio La Volpe’s most trusted player and a key cog in El Tri’s midfield.
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Pineda’s job now heading into the critical two-leg series is to prepare Seattle for a dynamic and skillful team eager to reaffirm its status as one of the best in North America.
“The middle with [Chofis] López and [Alan] Pulido and of course [Rodolfo] Pizarro and [Orbelín] Pineda, they have a really good midfield, good strikers,” said Pineda. “It’s going to be a very challenging team to beat, but I’m confident with the team we have, with the players we have. Hopefully we can have a good result at home.”
Chivas loves to play 1-v-1 all over the field, and while it could potentially create mismataches offensively, it can also be a liability for counterattacks, something at which the Sounders excel. Seattle trounced Santa Tecla FC to the tune of four second-half goals in the return leg of the Round of 16 match last Thursday, cutting through their defense in a 4-4-2 diamond formation that took advantage of space in transition.
Chivas is currently struggling in Liga MX’s Clausura, sitting in 16th out of 18th place in the table through 10 matches. Despite its unfavorable position, though, Pineda knows how talented and deep Chivas is and insists it’s better than its record suggests. To that end, it will be vital for the Sounders to earn a positive result at home on Wednesday, while simultaneously keeping Chivas off the board.
“It’s a tricky one because if you concede a goal, away goals is the first tiebreaker,” said Pineda. “It’s good to try to win, but at the same time it has to be a clinical defensive shape. We cannot concede a goal at home.”
Seattle starts the 2018 campaign with serious fixture congestion, something Chivas is not immune to either. This past Saturday, Chivas drew 1-1 with rival and second-place team Club América in El Clásico and needed to employ its regular starters. Chivas did the same the previous weekend in another important match against Pumas.
“Maybe we get a tired team in the second half,” said Pineda. “That can be something that helps us a little bit.”
