Despite the latest in a series of losses to a Mexican team in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday night, Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid insisted the gulf of quality between Major League Soccer and Liga MX might not be as big as some critics would like to think.
The Sounders dropped the second leg of their SCCL quarterfinal series against Club America 3-1 at Estadio Azteca to fall 5-3 on aggregate over the two games against Club America, eliminating the Sounders from the tournament. Only two MLS teams have been able to topple a Mexican team in the knockout round of the tournament since 2008 – the Montreal Impact last year and the Sounders in 2013 – and all four MLS teams in this year’s tournament went down to their Liga MX counterparts over the span of 24 hours this week.
Despite those results, Schmid said MLS has gained ground on Liga MX in recent years.
“I think [the difference] is much smaller than it used to be,” Schmid said. “If you go back two or three years, Liga MX teams would play half-reserve teams against us. They don’t play reserve teams against us anymore. They know if they play reserve teams against us, they’re probably not going to win.”
Club America trotted out a tired but nonetheless first-choice lineup against Seattle on Wednesday, and the team’s stars made the moment count. Darwin Quintero and Oribe Peralta each scored in the waning moments of the first half to overcome a 1-0 lead for Seattle before the hosts padded the lead with a third goal early in the second half.
Schmid echoed what most MLS backers said this week in light of losses by the Sounders, D.C. United and the LA Galaxy, and what’s become a common but nonetheless truthful refrain over the years in the SCCL. The tournament’s knockout rounds always fall either early in the MLS season or even during the preseason, while Liga MX teams are often 5-10 games into their regular season.
“If we could play on more equal footing – if we were eight games into our season – then maybe the games would be a little different,” Schmid said. “They have an advantage in this round, for sure … but the gap has definitely closed and I think the teams here in Mexico give us respect now because they play with first teams against us.”
Second-year midfielder Cristian Roldan called the tournament “difficult” and admitted the Sounders lacked the game fitness against Club America, in large part due to the timing of the tournament.
“This is only our second game … we don’t have the game fitness they do,” Roldan said. “And coming into Estadio Azteca, where they have altitude as well, that doesn’t help us.
“With a bunch of games under our belt, it would definitely help us.”
