SEATTLE– The Seattle Sounders managed to earn a 2-2 draw against Mexican powerhouse Club America in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday night, but left themselves little room for error in next week’s return leg in Mexico.
Twice the Sounders took the lead. Twice Club America equalized, earning itself two invaluable road goals in the process.
Oribe Peralta capped the scoring in the 70th minute of an open and entertaining match, leaping to toe a Rubens Sambueza cross past goalkeeper Stefan Frei to tie the game in front of 42,836 at CenturyLink Field. It was Sambueza’s second assist of the night.
The teams meet again at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on March 2 in the second match of the two-leg, away-goals series. Club America advances to the semifinals if it wins or settles for a 0-0 or 1-1 tie. The Sounders would advance with a win, a 3-3 (or higher scoring) tie, and can force extra time with a 2-2 draw.
Peralta’s late equalizer dulled the shine of a stellar night from Clint Dempsey, whose brace twice provided the Sounders with a lead.
Dempsey opened the scoring in stunning fashion in the 44th minute, lacing a free kick past goalkeeper Hugo Gonzalez from nearly 30 yards out. With the match tied 1-1 in the 52nd minute, Dempsey then leapt over defender Miguel Samudio to head an Andreas Ivanschitz corner kick past Gonzalez for the 2-1 lead.
Darwin Quintero equalized for Club America mere seconds after Dempsey’s first strike. Quintero, who spent much of the first half testing Seattle’s offside trap, split the Sounders’ central defenders and worked himself under a leisurely through-ball from Sambueza before easily beating Frei from 10 yards out.
Club America, defending tournament champion and winner of the 2014 Liga MX Apertura, has won this competition a record six times and is in midseason form, sitting in fourth place (3-1-3) in league play. The Sounders, on the other hand, had not played a competitive match since last season’s MLS playoffs and debuted a new formation. It was also the club’s first game since designated player and leading scorer Obafemi Martins departed for the Chinese Super League earlier this month.
And yet the hosts began the evening brightly and never looked overmatched. Longtime midfield anchor Osvaldo Alonso skipped a 20-yard shot just wide from the top of the area in the opening minutes of the match. Much heralded rookie Jordan Morris nearly found the back of the net in the 12th minute off a redirected header, but his shot deflected off a Club America defender and was slapped off the line by Gonzalez.
Club America began to develop a rhythm as a wide-open first half wore on, repeatedly probing the Sounders on the counter but failing to connect the final pass or finding itself called offside. Sambueza nearly put the guests ahead off a broken counter in the 27th minute, tracking down a deflection and beating Frei from a difficult angle only to see his shot ricochet off the bottom of the crossbar.