Ever since Garth Lagerwey arrived in the Emerald City as Sounders FC’s General Manager & President of Soccer this past offseason, he has constantly reiterated the importance of the 2015-16 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (SCCL).
The winner of this regional tournament – deemed the best club in North America, Central America and the Caribbean – will go on to play in the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup. If the Sounders were to become the first MLS team to win the SCCL and qualify for a FIFA Club World Cup, they would be able to attract new players and fans from all over the world.
The journey begins on Wednesday, when Seattle plays at Vancouver Whitecaps FC in its opening match of the tournament. Vancouver earned a 3-0 win over the Sounders in MLS action last weekend.
“We’ve got to play better than we played Saturday. We’ve got to eliminate goals on set pieces,” Head Coach Sigi Schmid said. “We need to be more dangerous up front…In Champions League you want to win your home games and get a result on the road, so we are looking to get a result.”
The tournament features eight groups of three teams from various countries in the region, and Seattle is in the only group that has multiple MLS teams. The third member of Group F is Honduran side C.D. Olimpia, one of two Central American clubs that have qualified for all eight editions of the SCCL.
Each club will face the other two teams in its group twice – one home and one away – to determine who advances to the Knockout Stage, which takes place in the spring of 2016.
For Wednesday’s opener, captain Brad Evans says the Sounders are more focused on ending their current losing streak than getting revenge for last weekend’s result against the Whitecaps. Seattle has lost four straight MLS games and been shut out in each one of them.
“We’ve just got to back to playing our style of soccer and get back to our winning ways,” Evans said. “So our focus is on us, not on the other team.”
“I think any game is a chance to get out of a slump and any game is a chance to get back on a run,” goalkeeper Stefan Frei added. “Whether that is on Wednesday or the following game, right now Wednesday is our next game and we have to prepare for that.”
Following Wednesday’s match at BC Place, the Sounders will face C.D. Olimpia at home on August 19 and on the road August 26. The club will close out its Group Stage play on September 23 in what will be its fifth matchup with the Whitecaps of 2015.
Seattle is making its fourth appearance in the SCCL. The Rave Green previously advanced out of the Group Stage in both 2011-12 and 2012-13.
