Sounders FC has played international opponents before. This time, there’s nothing friendly about it.
The Sounders will meet AC Isidro Metapn of El Salvador tonight at Qwest Field in the opening match of a two-game aggregate-score series for the right to advance to the group stage of CONCACAF Champions League.
The second game will be played Tuesday in San Salvador.
“The main reason this tournament is important is because, at the end of the day, in order to play in the World Club championship ... you have to win the championship of our region,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. “And that gives us the opportunity to play against the Manchester Uniteds and the Barcelonas of the world, if they win their championships. So we have got to get through this stage to play in that. That’s something I think every player dreams of.”
CONCACAF Champions League brings together 24 championship clubs from North American, Central America and the Caribbean. The Sounders got in by winning the 2009 U.S. Open Cup. Four other MLS teams qualified: Real Salt Lake (MLS Cup), Columbus (Supporters Shield), Los Angeles (MLS Cup runner-up), and Toronto (representing Canada).
“It’s motivating,” Sounders forward Fredy Montero said through an interpreter. “We want to make history with this team playing in the first international cup. “
Eight teams advance directly to group play, while the rest – including Seattle and Metapn – meet in a preliminary round, hoping to play their way to the group stage, which consists of home-and-road series with each of the other three teams. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals.
“For the fans, I think getting into the group stage then provides them with some attractive foreign opponents,” Schmid said. “To get a team from Mexico up here to play a game that is meaningful – not for an exhibition game – I think is something different. ... Metapn has done well in El Salvador the past two or three years, and it allows us to measure ourselves internationally, which is something you get to do in Europe all the time but you don’t get to do with us. So, it’s Champions League come to our hemisphere.”
Metapn advanced by winning the 2010 Clausura – the second of two annual league seasons – in El Savador’s Primera Division. It was Metapn’s fourth league title over seven seasons.
One of their players – Paolo Surez – is the older brother of Uruguay star Luis Surez. Other key players are Josué Flores and Léster Blanco, who Schmid describes as “a dangerous, attacking player” who “has got like 24 goals over the last season and a half.”
Beyond such basics, the Sounders admit they know less about Metapn than a typical MLS opponent. What they know has come from Schmid once coaching against Metapn coach Edwin Portillo, “a couple of videotapes of games,” conversations with contacts in El Salvador, and checking with contacts in Southern California who saw Metapn’s 1-0 win last week over the PDL Hollywood United Hitmen.
“The Central American and South American teams (take) more touches and you’ve got to be alert because they’re going to be running off the ball,” Seattle defender Jeff Parke said. “They’re smaller and they’re cheekier and their center of gravity is a bit better so they can take a knock and keep going. It’s going to be a quick game, but I like our chances.”
The Seattle-Metapn pairing will be settled by aggregate score over two games, with road goals used as the first tiebreaker.
The winner will move into a group also including Monterrey (Mexico), Saprissa (Costa Rica), and the winner of the preliminary round pairing of Tauro (Panama) and Marathon (Honduras).
THREE SEATTLE STARS
Sounders Kasey Keller, Freddie Ljungberg and Montero were named as inactive members of the 2010 MLS All-Stars. The MLS All-Star team meets Manchester United tonight at Reliant Stadium in Houston (5:30 p.m., ESPN2).
Also named as inactive members were goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen (Kansas City), midfielders Joel Lindpere (New York) and Robbie Rogers (Columbus), and forward Conor Casey (Colorado).
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