Limping away: Sounders eliminated from Concacaf

The Seattle Sounders traveled to face Cruz Azul at Estadio Olimpico Universitario in Mexico City in the second leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup tie on Tuesday night. Although the Sounders started the game well, after the opening 10 minutes or so there was pretty much one-way traffic as Cruz Azul heaped pressure on the visitors and Seattle struggled to build possession or get out of their own end. A Danny Musovski goal in the 75th minute breathed some life into the match, but that was short lived as Cruz Azul ultimately stormed to a 4-1 win to advance to the next round.

After a pair of early chances to get on the board, with Jackson Ragen and Jordan Morris both having decent looks in the 3rd and 5th minutes, Cruz Azul took over. They dominated the field and disrupted every attempt from the Sounders to find a foothold while applying wave after wave of pressure. Charly Rodriguez’s 33rd minute header to open the scoring came after Angel Sepulveda had a header go just over the bar in the 30th minute and Mateusz Bogusz had a chipped effort after dribbling through the Seattle defense that similarly floated just too high to end up in the back of the net.

Paul Rothrock entered the game at halftime for Paul Arriola, who seemed to pick up a serious knee injury towards the end of the first half. Rothrock provided some renewed energy, and in the 58th minute he nearly provided the assist for an equalizer when he received a ball from Frei out on the left and got past a defender on his way to the box before playing a pass to the top of the area that Jesus Ferreira ran onto but the resulting shot went into the cheap seats. About 10 minutes later things took a serious downward turn as another injury struck the Sounders. Jordan Morris was sprinting onto a ball in space when he pulled up and had to leave the game with what looked like some sort of muscle injury. Unfortunately things would get even worse in the 70th minute when Rothrock had a play that was about as bad as his earlier was good as he ran over Ignacio Rivero in Seattle’s area to give Cruz Azul a penalty and take a bit of the wind out of the Sounders’ sails. Sepulveda stepped up and easily beat Frei to make it 2-0 for the hosts.

That particular margin only lasted a few minutes as Musovski found a goal to get the Sounders back in the game in the 75th minute. Albert Rusnák hit a fantastic free kick from the right side to the far post where Rothrock headed it back across and goalkeeper Kevin Mier attempted to clear it but the ball bounced around until Musovski poked it in.

With Seattle pushing for an equalizer that would potentially see them through to the next round if the game ended tied, Cruz Azul took full advantage of the gaps that opened up. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi attempted to carry the ball out of the back, but a big touch as he opened up into a sprint in midfield left enough space for a tackle that immediately turned into an attack. Carlos Rotondi played a ball across the box from the left side for Luka Romero who slid in with Alex Roldan for company and knocked the ball beyond Frei to make it 3-1 in the 85th minute. Then in the 88th minute Jorge Sanchez closed the game out after receiving a pass from Charly Rodriguez on the right side of the area and smashing his shot into the far side netting and making it 4-1 to Cruz Azul’s favor.

The Sounders now only have the league to focus on for the time being as they get back to action with a trip to face St. Louis City on Saturday.

Key moments

3 - Header! Nouhou wins a dangerous free kick and Rusnák’s service reaches the head of Ragen, but the shot goes wide.

5 - Chance! Ferreira plays a dangerous pass for Morris as he races in at goal with a defender on him, but the final touch isn’t enough to direct the ball on goal as it trickles just outside the far post.

30 - Header! Sepulveda rises up between two defenders to get a header off of a cross from the left side, but his looping effort floats just over the bar.

31 - Chip! Bogusz fights his way through the defense and gets off a chip that has Frei beat, but can’t keep it down and it goes over for a goal kick.

33 - Goal, Cruz Azul. Seattle turn the ball over in their half and Piovi makes a run to the end line and hits a cross that Rodriguez heads in off the far post. 1-0 Cruz Azul

36 - Miss! A bad back pass from Cristian Roldan creates a threatening look as Bogusz and Sepulveda run at the scrambling defense, but Sepulveda’s shot just misses.

45 - Block! Rivero has a dangerous look at goal, but Arriola and Ragen both slide in to block and Arriola gets enough on the shot to put it out for a corner.

58 - Chance! Frei goes direct to Rothrock who beats his defender and hits a pass to the top of the box where Ferreira gets a shot but smashes it over the bar.

70 - Penalty! Rothrock barges into Rivero from behind in the box to give Cruz Azul a chance from 12 yards out. Sepulveda steps up and beats Frei easily. 2-0 Cruz Azul

75 - GOAL! Rusnák sends in a free kick that Rothrock heads back in from the back post. Mier swats at it, but as the ball bounces around Musovski is the first to get a real touch as he slides to poke it home! 2-1 Cruz Azul

78 - SAVE! Bogusz has a dangerous look as he dribbles into the box, but Frei makes a huge play to save the shot and keep the score close.

85 - Goal, Cruz Azul. A loose touch from Kossa-Rienzi leads to a quick transition attack. Rotondi plays a ball across the box for Romero and Alex Roldan attempts to slide in and block it, but it ends up in the back of the net instead. 3-1 Cruz Azul

88 - Goal, Cruz Azul. Rodriguez picks out a pass from the top of the box for Sanchez, who has time and space to pick out a shot and puts it in the side netting. 4-1 Cruz Azul

Quick thoughts

Bodies piling up: It remains to be seen just how bad the injury to Jordan Morris is, as is the case with Pedro de la Vega’s quad injury that he picked up against LAFC. Paul Arriola’s knee injury seems to be a serious one that will likely keep him off the field for a while. This result means the team’s fixture congestion issues are somewhat alleviated for a little while, but losing three important players, no matter how long, in quick succession like this will give Brian Schmetzer and his staff a serious challenge as they attempt to build on the platform they’ve already created in MLS to start the season. The depth in the squad is being put to a serious test early in the season, now it’s time for players to step up like they did against LAFC.

Struggling to breathe: I don’t want to draw too many serious conclusions from two games played at altitude, but it’s at least interesting that the two worst results (and arguably the worst performances) of the still young season have come on the road at altitude. It’s completely understandable that the environment would play a factor here and at RSL, but particularly in this game the Sounders didn’t seem to do much to help themselves mitigate the impact of the altitude. Cruz Azul certainly played their part, as their press caused Seattle problems here as it did in the first leg, but the Sounders seemed to largely cede the midfield, and left the backline and midfield with few passing options when they did try to play through Cruz Azul. Rushed, sloppy play with the ball at their feet didn’t help, and as a result the Sounders were seldom able to slow the game down and inflict their own tempo on Cruz Azul instead of having to constantly try to run as they looked to play direct and run back as they turned the ball over. Literally and figuratively, this game kept Seattle gasping for air.

A silver lining: This game sucked, I won’t try to convince you otherwise. It was not fun to watch, save for a couple stretches that lasted no more than 10 minutes each. Players got hurt, the team got clobbered, and we still have most of the week to look forward to. The one glimmer in the result is this: we don’t have to worry about the strain of a deep run in this tournament and the inevitable toll it typically takes on MLS teams. It won’t make the loss of Arriola and Morris any less bitter, no matter how long that may be, but it’s something. I’m grasping for straws here, but we’re all entitled to cope however serves us.

Notable quote

Player spotlight

Danny Musovski – Musovski stepped in when Morris came out injured and hardly put a foot wrong. He was the one who provided the lone goal, but also completed all his passes, won his one tackle and went 1/2 on duels.