Conquering the region through the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League has been a key milestone of Sounders FC. With Monday’s Group Stage draw, the club’s path to that level of club soccer was made a bit more clear.
Drawn into a trio with Cascadia rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC and C.D. Olimpia of Honduras, the Sounders didn’t get the most favorable of groups, but one that it will take head on.
“Interesting draw. We’re the only MLS team to get another MLS team in our group,” said Sounders FC Sporting Director Chris Henderson. “That’s going to be a challenge. Vancouver’s had a good year, and we always have tough games with them. And then going back to Honduras…Tegucigalpa is a tough place to play. The crowds there are pretty intense, so it’ll be a big challenge for us in the first round.”
READ: Sounders FC learns 2015-16 CONCACAF Champions League Opponents
Slated to begin later this summer, the Sounders will play both Vancouver and Olimpia twice, home and away, with the team that finishes first in the group advancing to the Knockout Stage of the tournament.
For General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey, the goal of the tournament remains clear: taking Sounders FC to the next level.
“The Champions League is important because if you want the Seattle Sounders to matter, you have to win this tournament,” Lagerwey told SoundersFC.com earlier this year. “You can win an MLS Cup and you’ll matter in the United States. If you want to matter in the region and in the world, you have to win Champions League.
“If you’re able to win Champions League, you’re going to recruit a different kind of player. You’re going to have people calling you from all over the world that didn’t know who the Seattle Sounders were before, and you can make the team a quantum leap better by going through this process and pursuing this trophy.”
Group F, the Sounders' group, is the only one of the eight groups where two MLS teams were drawn together. The LA Galaxy were put with Central FC of Trinidad & Tobago and Comunicaciones of Honduras, D.C. United will face off against Montego Bay United from Jamaica and Arabe Unido of Panama, while Real Salt Lake drew C.S.D. Municipal of Guatemala and Santa Tecla FC of El Salvador.
Sounders Head Coach Sigi Schmid realizes the strength of his club’s group and that it means a very Cascadia-filled second half of the season.
“I think it is a tough group, much harder than the other MLS teams’ groups,” said Schmid of the draw. “That’s now five games that we’ve got to play against Vancouver, and there’s already four against Portland. I think we see those guys enough, and that’s not even counting potential playoff games. It would have been nice to avoid them – I’m sure they feel the same way – but it’s the draw that we have to abide by. We’ll go out there and get after it.”
For now, the Sounders will remain focused on MLS and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play, with the dates for the SCCL Group Stage matches yet to be determined.
Next up for the Rave Green is a trip to Kansas City to take on Sporting this Saturday at 5:30 p.m PT. Television coverage on JOEtv begins with a pre-match show starting at 5:00 p.m. PT.
