The sprawling Estadio Azteca rises from the southern edge of Mexico City like rounded Colossus framing the skyline. Off to the southeast is the Ajusco, a 12,800-foot lava dome volcano ominously climbing skyward. The Azteca sits on the ground at its feet like a resting giant.
The scene greets every team that travels to the 100,000-seat behemoth, and it never seems to lose its intensity. At roughly 7,300 feet, Mexico City is a cloud city, abrasively testing lungs that haven’t been thickened by its thin mountain air. For a sea-level team like the Seattle Sounders that should provide a challenge in itself.
Of course, the Sounders are in Mexico City to face Club América on Wednesday, figuratively wedged between Ajusco and a hammer. It’s the all-important second leg of the teams’ Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, a tournament that has never been particularly kind to teams from Major League Soccer and has already claimed two MLS scalps this week in D.C. United and the vaunted LA Galaxy.
The good news for the Sounders? Their attack performed admirably in last week’s 2-2 draw in the opening leg of the series at CenturyLink Field, despite being very much in preseason form. Seattle sliced América’s back line to ribbons twice in the team’s first competitive match of 2016. That was the positive part.
The negative? The Sounders surrendered two away goals after leading twice, making the draw feel vaguely like a loss in knockout parlance. The task ahead is not impossible. But Wednesday’s odds certainly do not favor the visitors. Only two teams from MLS have ever knocked off a Liga MX foe in the knockout round: The Sounders in 2013 and the Montreal Impact last year, both with wins or draws coming in the second leg, at home.
If there’s any immediate relief from Seattle’s perspective, however, it’s that the critical intensity being leveled on América ratcheted up several notches since these teams played last. On Sunday, three days before the second leg in Mexico City, América was shredded 4-1 by Tigres away from home. América led for all of two minutes before shockingly surrendering four goals in the last 20 minutes of the match. That will not lessen the glare of a microscope that is beginning to burn through América coach Ignacio Ambriz’s outer layers.
América was desperately clawing for league positioning, and a late collapse could severely damage their hopes of finishing near the top of the Liga MX table. Whether that spurs the team on to a more vengeful performance on Wednesday or a lackluster one burdened by their mediocre run in Liga MX is yet to be seen.
Another piece of good news? The Azteca’s already been breached this year. On Jan. 23, Pachuca devastated América 4-1 at the Azteca, deservedly trouncing the home side in front of a bevy of home fans. That doesn’t mean Seattle’s task will be particularly easy. But it does mean that it’s possible.
Ultimately, Seattle needs a win to assure its progression. A low-scoring draw doesn’t help, and the probability of a high-scoring draw like 3-3 that would tip the away goals edge in Seattle’s favor, is decisively low. That inevitably means a 1-0 result would be the most likely ideal scenario (given the relatively slim chance of a multi-goal victory).
Luckily, the team has the lineup to do it if the team can execute on the game plan.
The beauty of the 4-3-3 is in its fluidity. While the 4-4-2 tends to be fairly rigid, the midfield in the former tactical setup can flow and adjust to suit the game’s needs. The likelihood in Mexico City is that midfielders Osvaldo Alonso and Erik Friberg play a bit deeper while Andreas Ivanschitz stretches toward the front line to create a more direct tactical game plan. That’s the safer play, anyway.
Because the fact is, on the road at the Azteca, the likelihood of surrendering a goal if the game becomes stretched rises incrementally as the match wears on. Just look at the Impact last year during their two-leg series against América in the SCCL finals. Montreal had more time to prepare for the altitude and the hectic nature of the Azteca, and it still bit them when Oribe Peralta scored the tying goal in the 89th minute after the Impact’s legs were gone.
In that regard, don’t be surprised to see Seattle charge forward early, driving toward goal in the opening 15-20 minutes in an attempt to slot home the deciding goal early. That would allow the Sounders to defend in concentrated banks later in the match, arraying all of Sounders coach Sigi Schmid’s subs toward the defensive side.
In the event Seattle doesn’t score early, the game plan becomes a bit more muddled. Ideally, Seattle could ride out of the second half with a cushion, but things rarely work out neatly in Mexico City.
There’s little question the task ahead is monumental, but at the very least Seattle knows what it’s up against. As is, América is through to the semifinal, behooving the Sounders to making something happen in the shadow of the Ajusco Range and likely do it quickly.
If they can, they’re one step closer to history.
