Action from the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League game between the Vancouver Whitecaps (white jersey) and visiting Seattle Sounders on August 5, 2015. (Photo: Rich Lam)
SEATTLE, Washington – The rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps isn’t just any kind of rivalry.
They are separated by a border, 143 miles and opposing views on which one could possibly be the best in Major League Soccer.
This year, though, one thing has brought them together for some additional neighborly fun – the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (SCCL). As luck would have it, they were drawn into Group F (along with Honduras’ Olimpia), giving them an opportunity to meet two more times competitively.
Their SCCL encounter on Wednesday at Century Link Field has an extra element of intrigue with the winner securing a place in the quarterfinals.
The sides also met this past Saturday in Vancouver as Seattle ran out the 3-0 victor.
Will the comprehensive nature of that result impact motivation or mentality?
“It’s a different tournament, but I think both teams need to win, so it’s going to be a good game,” said midfielder Gonzalo Pineda, who scored the second goal in Seattle’s weekend win. “I hope that we can get the three points. In that way, we can get or achieve the goal that is being in the next round for the Champions League.”
For Vancouver, this is its first SCCL adventure. Seattle has appeared in the competition four times and advanced as far as the semifinals in the 2012/13 edition. That’s a height the Whitecaps would like to reach, but the Sounders and thoughts of Saturday’s final score are in the way.
Or, are they?
“It won’t change our mentality, it won’t change our dynamic,” said Vancouver head coach Carl Robinson. “We’ll go and we’ll try to win the game.”
Although he was willing to join in the discussion, Seattle manager Sigi Schmid didn’t appear overly interested in focusing on mental approaches or the meaning of past scorelines. He boiled down the real-life scenarios to their simplest form.
“We all know it’s a game that if they win, they advance; if we win, we advance,” remarked the 62-year-old. “A loss or a tie doesn’t get us anywhere. A loss or a tie means that their game at Olimpia becomes really, really important. Both teams are going to come out on the field to try to win the game.
“I think our group is easily the toughest group. You look at the standings there’s some other groups that are close in points, but you look at the disparity between teams. Our group, Olimpia and Vancouver, you know every game has been competitive, every game has been tight.”
Just like Wednesday’s is expected to be.
