The Seattle Sounders are chasing history, the latest Major League Soccer team attempting to win the Concacaf Champions League, with the first leg of their final against Pumas UNAM coming up Wednesday night from Mexico City.
The second leg is at Lumen Field in Seattle on May 4.
Seattle are the latest MLS team to chase regional supremacy with Real Salt Lake, CF Montreal, Toronto FC and LAFC all reaching the CCL final and all four suffered agonizing defeats to Mexican opposition.
The Sounders are hoping to flip the script when they take on Pumas, end the MLS drought and book a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup.
“It’s a trophy that the club certainly covets,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said following the semifinal victory over New York City FC. "I think that's something that we have made public. I think Garth [Lagerwey, Seattle’s president], when he came here, said it was a goal of ours.
“The constant theme throughout this club, the culture of the club, is to win every game, every trophy, every competition. We take all the games seriously. We don't buy the excuse where if you commit to one tournament, you can’t proceed or do well in the other. We don't buy that.”
Seattle are one of Major League Soccer’s most consistently successful clubs over the last decade, having won two MLS Cup titles in four finals appearances, one US Open Cup crown and one Supporters’ Shield lift.
The nucleus has been together for a few years, they've played in big games, won big games and that’s why some consider the Sounders the favorite in the final against Pumas.
“We want to be part of history. We want to be the first team to win Champions League, the first MLS team,” midfielder Cristian Roldan said after Seattle ousted Mexico’s Club Leon in the quarterfinals. “Look, one way or another, there's going to be an MLS team in the final and for us to be potentially one of them, that just makes us really proud and hopefully we get a lot of support from our people in the States.”
The Sounders will surely get that support as the countdown to the opening kick ramps up. And while close to unilateral support across MLS (perhaps sans Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps fans) will be on Rave Green’s side, history will not.
Mexican teams have won all 13 Concacaf Champions League titles in this iteration of the regional championship. Monterrey have won the most with five, while Club America and Pachuca have two championships apiece. Seven Liga MX teams have lifted the trophy, but interestingly Pumas aren’t one of them. Like Seattle, they are chasing their first.
The difference, though, is Seattle have the weight of an entire league on their shoulders in their title chase.
Here's a look at the other MLS marches to the finals. Look away if you’re squeamish.
Real Salt Lake - 2011
After beating fellow MLS side Columbus and then Deportivo Saprissa from Costa Rica, Real
Salt Lake became the first MLS team to reach the final, where Monterrey, which knocked off fellow Liga MX foes Toluca and Cruz Azul, were waiting.
The opening leg was played at Estadio Tecnologico in Monterrey and it was the hosts who raced out to an early lead. But Nat Borchers leveled for RSL in the 35th minute and Javier Morales added a second away goal as the teams headed to Utah level at two.
The odds were in Real Salt Lake's favor back at Rio Tinto Stadium, but Humberto Suazo broke the Claret-and-Cobalt’s fans heart with the decisive goal at the stroke of halftime.
CF Montreal - 2015
The club previously known as the Montreal Impact were the next MLS club to make the final and were the ultimate underdogs after upsetting Mexico’s Pachuca in the quarterfinals and Costa Rica’s Alajuelense in the semifinals.
Mighty Club America ran roughshod through the opposition, going undefeated in group play and then knocking off the Costa Rican duo of Saprissa and Herediano by a combined 11-3.
The first leg of the final was at famed Estadio Azteca, but Ignacio Piatti wasn’t intimidated by his surroundings with the opening goal in the 16th minute to stun the nearly 57,000 America fans in attendance.
It was looking like Montreal would pull off the stunning win before Oribe Peralta leveled two minutes from full time.
Just over 61,000 packed into Stade Olympique for the second leg and Piatti set up Andres Romeo in the 8th minute to give Montreal the lead and some hope.
But Dario Benedetto crushed that hope with a second-half hat trick and Peralta added a 65th-minute goal, making Jack McInerney’s 88th-minute goal for the Impact a cosmetic one.
Toronto FC - 2018
A year after winning the treble — claiming the Canadian Championship, Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup title — Toronto FC hunted continental glory and they went through Mexican sides to do so.
The Reds knocked off Tigres in the quarterfinals before a contentious semifinal victory over Club America, whose biggest rival, Chivas Guadalajara, were between them and history.
Chivas, which edged the New York Red Bulls in the semifinals, looked to be in full control when they headed back to Estadio Akron with a 2-1 win at BMO Field as current Sporting Kansas City forward Alan Pulido scored the decisive goal in the 72nd minute.
Orbelin Pineda extended that lead in the 19th minute, but just when Toronto FC were being counted out, the Reds roared back on unanswered goals by Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovico before halftime.
The title would be decided on penalty kicks where Chivas secured a 4-2 shootout win, resulting in more MLS heartbreak.
LAFC - 2020
Everything was different in 2020, with the competition paused for several months because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Exploria Stadium was the site of the single-game final as LAFC , which knocked off Mexican foes Club Leon, Cruz Azul and Club America, faced Tigres UANL. Diego Rossi, who won the MLS Golden Boot award that year, broke the scoreless stalemate in the 61st minute and LAFC were 30 minutes from finally breaking the duck.
But Hugo Ayala levelled 11 minutes later before Andre-Pierre Gignac’s winner in the 84th minute.
Frustrated MLS fans wondered if a club would win the CCL title. The Sounders hope to have that answer beginning Wednesday.
