Postgame Pontifications: They might be giants

One of the truisms when it comes to Concacaf competitions is that there are no easy road games. That’s something that holds true in everything from World Cup qualifiers to Conacacaf Champions Cup. Even during their successful runs, that’s been true for the Seattle Sounders, too.

In 2022, for instance, they went undefeated on their run to the title, but didn’t win a single road game. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2012 to find the last time the Sounders won a Concacaf road game. From 2013-2024, the Sounders played 12 Concacaf road games and went 0-5-7 with a -8 goal difference.

These weren’t all Liga MX giants, either. Although there are six Liga MX opponents in that mix, two of the Sounders’ opponents in that time were from MLS and four other games were against Central American clubs.

The Sounders’ struggles were especially acute in games that came before the start of the MLS regular season, as you might expect. The Sounders had gone 0-3-2 in those type of matches, which included a record of 0-1-2 against Central American opponents during their three previous early-season Concacaf appearances.

I provide all of this information to give context to Wednesday’s performance. On its face, the 3-1 road win over Guatemala’s Antigua may not have been all that impressive. There were stretches of the game, especially in the first half, where the Sounders looked disorganized and rusty. Antigua had more decent looks than I think anyone with the Sounders would have liked.

But the Sounders did what traditionally is something reserved only for Liga MX teams in this competition. For all their struggles, the Sounders ultimately had a significant talent advantage and were able to effectively brute-force their way to a win that gives them a comfortable enough lead that they can probably afford to put out a lineup that has less of a talent advantage in the second leg.

What was interesting about this was in both the buildup and in the postgame, much of the local press seemed to be baiting Brian Schmetzer and the various players into saying this. They seemed to expect the Sounders to almost openly overlook their opponents, and seemed almost surprised when Schmetzer told them that he’d be starting something like his first-choice group and when he said that he was impressed by Antigua’s quality.

That’s because this is not the Sounders’ first rodeo. They may have never played at Antigua’s relatively tiny Estadio Pensativo but they’ve played in plenty of places effectively just like it. In 2018, they went to El Salvador’s Santa Tecla — who seemingly was playing at a similar talent disadvantage — and were dealt a 2-1 loss. In 2020, they went to Honduras’ CD Olimpia and were forced to settle for a 2-2 tie. It’s easy to forget now, but their 2022 championship run started with a 0-0 tie at Honduras’ Motagua.

The Sounders knew better than to expect anything to be easy on a beautiful night in Guatemala. And it wasn’t.

Although they jumped out to a 1-0 lead behind Paul Arriola’s deflected shot in the 3rd minute — the fastest a Sounder had ever scored in his debut — Antigua controlled much of the first half. The Sounders had expressed their desire to be tight defensively, but were constantly getting stretched out.

That was in particularly stark display in the 24th minute on what should have been an innocuous throw-in about 80 yards away from the Sounders goal. But a couple of sloppy and possibly overzealous tackle attempts later, Antigua was in the open field with Romario played into space on the left wing. He was able to pick up his head and find Oscar Santis, who had lost his mark near the penalty spot. Santis took one touch to settle, and then cooly beat Stefan Frei to tie the score.

There were plenty of moments over the next 30-odd minutes when the Sounders could have lost control of the match. They were clearly still figuring out the finer points of their three-centerback defense and the possession in midfield was something short of secure.

But the game did settle down a bit at halftime and the Sounders’ talent just kinda took over. Yes, Pedro de la Vega’s shot from almost 35 yards took a fortunate deflection, but it also came after some quality counter-pressing that left Antigua’s defenders in a tough spot.

The final goal, though, was probably the best example of the Sounders’ superior talent taking over. It came in the final moments of the game while Antigua was scrambling for an equalizer. Goalkeeper Luis Moran tried to push the ball forward, but Obed Vargas intercepted it. Vargas immediately hit Georgi Minoungou with a well weighted pass into the right channel. Minoungou’s first touch was to cross it to Albert Rusnák, who just stroked the ball into the side netting.

That goal effectively put the series to bed. The Sounders would have likely been heavy favorites to advance even if they’d lost this game 2-1, like they did against Santa Tecla. But blowing a two-goal lead with three away goals already in their pocket? That just doesn’t happen.

I don’t want to make any bold predictions about where this is all going, but based on this result at least it seems like we may be entering a new era where MLS can throw its weight around a bit more.