Sounders Schmetzer pulls all the right strings as Rave Green advances to CONCACAF Semi-Final Round with solid 1-1 draw at Club Leo

MATCH NOTES

• Sounders FC advances to the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Semifinals for the second time in club history. The club’s first Semifinal appearance came during the 2012-2013 campaign, where the Rave Green fell by a narrow margin to Liga MX side Santos Laguna. Losing 2-1 on aggregate over two legs, Herculez Gomez and Darwin Quintero provided the goals for Santos, negating Lamar Neagle’s tally for Seattle.

• The Rave Green now face fellow MLS side New York City FC in the two-legged Semifinals for a shot at the Concacaf Champions League Final. Due to COVID-related scheduling quirks, this is Seattle’s first matchup against NYCFC in any competition since July 3, 2019, a 3-0 win for NYCFC. The Rave Green are 2-3-0 all-time against NYCFC.

• Sounders FC is 7-9-3 all-time against Liga MX opponents in SCCL and Leagues Cup play, including a 1-5-2 record in Mexico. This marks the fourth time the Rave Green have advanced past a Liga MX side in a knockout round of a tournament.

• Tonight marked Fredy Montero’s 200^th appearance for Sounders FC across all competitions (151 MLS regular season, 11 MLS postseason, 22 Concacaf Champions League, 13 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, 3 Leagues Cup).

• Head Coach Brian Schmetzer deployed a 5-4-1 formation for tonight’s match, with two personnel changes from Saturday’s win over the LA Galaxy. Jackson Ragen started for the injured Yeimar Gómez Andrade and Kelyn Rowe replaced Obed Vargas.

• Nouhou is now suspended for the first leg of the Semifinals vs. New York City FC due to yellow card accumulation. The Cameroonian picked-up a caution in the 58^th minute of tonight’s match.

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 1 – Club León 1

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Venue: Estadio León

Referee: Jose Raul Torres

Assistants: Juan Zumba, Helpys Feliz

Fourth Official: Randy Encarnación

VAR: Said Martinez

Weather: 45 degrees and clear

SCORING SUMMARY

SEA – Fredy Montero (penalty) 45+3’

LEO – Fidel Ambriz 90+1’

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

SEA – Nouhou (caution) 58’

LEO – Gary Kagelmacher 65’

SEA – Obed Vargas 73’

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan, Jackson Ragen, Xavier Arreaga, Nouhou; Cristian Roldan, João Paulo (Danny Leyva 88’), Jordan Morris (Obed Vargas 61’), Kelyn Rowe (Aboulaye Cissoko 81’), Albert Rusnák; Fredy Montero (Will Bruin 62’)

Substitutes not used: Stefan Cleveland, Samuel Adeniran, Léo Chú

Total shots: 6

Shots on goal: 3

Fouls: 15

Offside: 1

Corner-kicks: 0

Saves: 7

Club León – Rodolfo Cota; Andrés Mosquera (José Ramírez 52’), Gary Kagelmacher, William Tesillo, Ángel Mena, Jean Meness, Óscar Villa, Fidel Ambriz, Elias Hernández, Juan Rangel (Santiago Ormeño 46’), Víctor Dávilla

Substitutes not used: Alfonso Blanco, Iván Rodríguez, Santiago Colombatto, Isaac Muñiz

Total shots: 26

Shots on goal: 8

Fouls: 16

Offside: 3

Corner-kicks: 15

Saves: 2