Four things you may have missed from Seattle Sounders' Leg Two match against Club León

The Seattle Sounders picked up a 1-1 draw on the road against Club León in Leg Two of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals, sending the Rave Green to the next round 4-1 on aggregate. The Rave Green are set to face reigning MLS Cup champions New York City FC in the CCL semifinals. Here are four things you might have missed from the match. 

Return on Investment

In some ways, Seattle’s series win over Club León can be traced back to 2015 when the club dramatically increased its spending on expanding its player development infrastructure. 

Center back Jackson Ragen, 23, was fantastic against León in just his second start for the Sounders in place of the injured Yeimar. Ragen played for the Sounders Academy during his youth days and spent last season getting valuable professional minutes with the Tacoma Defiance in the USL Championship. Obed Vargas, 16, put in an exciting performance in Leg One and played well when he came on as a substitute in yesterday’s match. Vargas was scouted in Alaska, brought into the Sounders Discovery Program, played in the Academy, and posted 28 appearances with the Defiance before bursting onto the scene with the First Team. 

Joining those young prospects were Homegrown Player Danny Leyva, 19, and Defiance alum AB Cissoko, 22, as second half substitutes to see out the series. In total, five players that took the pitch in Mexico and helped secure a historic two-legged victory over León came from the club’s player development system. 

That investment made seven years ago is beginning to pay dividends.

A Tale of Two Matches

A quick glance at the possession stats would have you believe that the Sounders rolled out the same tactical system across both matches. However, some formational adjustments and tweaks to the defensive scheme saw the Sounders procure results in two very different ways.

In Leg One, the Rave Green deployed their typical 4-2-3-1 formation. Like in the second fixture, they conceded possession but were much more aggressive in their pressing, hounding the visiting midfielders into turnovers and throwing numbers forward in transition. It worked to perfection as Seattle posted a massive 3-0 victory.

In Leg Two, Seattle shifted to a 5-4-1 formation and sat deeper as they looked to pitch a shutout and carefully pick their moments to counter attack. As a result, the Sounders converted fewer chances in Mexico, but they scored the decisive away goal and were minutes away from picking up a win. Once again, the coaching staff got the players to execute the game plan as they earned a draw and punched their ticket to the CCL semifinals.

Defensive Masterclass

As both Cristian Roldan and Brian Schmetzer noted in their post-match press conferences, the game plan when defending was to usher León’s possession out wide to bait them into pumping crosses in the box. With an extra center back in there and wingbacks to provide assistance, the Sounders were able to repel a strong attacking group from the Liga MX side.

In total, Seattle’s back line combined for 36 clearances, five blocked shots, seven interceptions, 11 tackles and 14 duels won. The way that players shifted around the field and provided defensive cover was reminiscent of the club’s win away to LAFC in the 2019 Western Conference Final.

Sweet Stefan Frei

Of course, playing against such a talented opponent meant that the Sounders couldn’t fully nullify chances for León. Employing a bend-don’t-break approach, Seattle still needed goalkeeper Stefan Frei to come up huge on several occasions to keep control of the match. Frei, who is no stranger to playing in big matches, supplied seven stops on the night, including three ridiculous reaction saves in the second half. The veteran goalkeeper effectively made it so León couldn’t build any momentum in front of their sold-out crowd as he kept them off the scoresheet until second half stoppage time. At that point, it was far too late for the hosts to mount a comeback.