The Seattle Sounders lost their Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series in a matter of minutes.
After going up on aggregate three times over the course of their two-leg series against perennial Mexican power Club America, the Sounders are punching their ticket home with a 5-3 aggregate loss, punctuated by a 3-1 defeat on Wednesday night at Estadio Azetca in Mexico City.
“We had three leads,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said. “And our leads have lasted like three minutes.”
In the first fixture last week, the Sounders took the lead twice on the back of an inspired performance from forward Clint Dempsey. The first goal, a stunning free kick in the 44th minute, was nullified by a 45th-minute goal off a slick run from Club America striker Darwin Quintero.
The second, a strong Dempsey header off a corner kick from midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz in the 52nd minute, was quashed by an Oribe Peralta equalizer in the 70th.
Wednesday’s match was painful déjà vu. The Sounders took a 1-0 lead and a 3-2 lead in the series in the 41st minute off an own-goal, but Quintero equalized a minute later, yet again.
For goalkeeper Stefan Frei it wasn’t just the swiftness of Club America’s retribution, it was the timing.
“It’s so fresh in our head from last game.” Frei said. “We don’t want to concede but yet again we concede right away. In a matter of a few minutes, two goals and that obviously completely changes the game. So instead of going into half up 1-0 we’re down 2-1, and it’s demoralizing.”
Schmid agreed that for all that they accomplished in first 45 minutes of each game in this series, the Sounders needed to go into halftime with the lead.
“For 41 minutes, we did what we wanted to do.” Schmid said Wednesday. “We looked for situations to counter, we knew we’d have to dodge a few bullets, and we’d have to defend well. I thought we did that, but we needed to give ourselves the opportunity by going into halftime with the lead.”
Now eliminated from the SCCL, the Sounders will turn their focus toward the MLS regular season opener on March 6 against Sporting Kansas City at CenturyLink Field.
