Brad Evans (black jersey) is the Seattle Sounders' leading active scorer in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League with four goals. (Photo: Jane Gershovich)
SEATTLE, Washington – A new turf has been laid down at CenturyLink Field ahead of Tuesday’s Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal clash between Seattle Sounders FC and defending champion Club America.
The Sounders’ mentality heading into the opening leg, however, remains the same.
“The most important thing is to keep a clean sheet,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said at a press conference Monday. “If we can go down there having not given up an away goal here, that’s important for our team. Winning is important, as is scoring as many goals as we can. If we don’t give away a goal and win the game that forces them to come at us down there and opens up the game.”
The second leg is March 2 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, a venue that has been less than kind to an overwhelming majority of visitors. That fact puts added emphasis on being defensively sound in the first 90 minutes of the series.
“We have to play smart,” Sounders midfielder Brad Evans said. “It’s our first game with repercussions. You concede a goal, you find yourself digging out of that. It’s holding it to zero because you want to give yourself the best advantage going down there at altitude, with that heat in Mexico.”
The Sounders also announced on Monday they have signed veteran Nathan Sturgis, who previously played for Seattle from 2009-10, making 29 regular season appearances. He is available for selection immdiately.
“It’s an exciting addition,” said Sounders general manager Garth Lagerway. “He’s a former Sounder coming back and rejoining the team.”
While this match is the first of the 2016 season for Seattle, America has seven Liga MX Clausura games under its belt, including a wild 3-3 draw with Cruz Azul in the latest edition of the Clasico Joven on Saturday.
That match has given Schmid some clues as to the squad the Aguilas will field in Seattle.
“The game on the weekend brought a little clarity in that [Moises] Muñoz, their goalkeeper, got injured and [Dario] Benedetto got injured, you knew that [Oribe] Peralta and [Darwin] Quintero got red cards so chances are they’re playing against us vs. sitting because they can’t play on the weekend anyway,” Schmid said. “That gives you a little bit of a feel of what’s going on.”
Seattle is 3W-1D-6L all-time against Mexican clubs in SCCL play, including wins at home against Santos (2-1) and Tigres (3-1) in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 quarterfinals, respectively.
