The Seattle Sounders won their fourth match ever against Liga MX opposition in the CONCACAF Champions League Wednesday night, 1-0 over CD Guadalajara. A late goal from Clint Dempsey gave Seattle the edge heading into the return leg Mar. 14.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
There’s nothing quite like the Champions League for atmosphere
Chivas fans turned up in droves to see their club take on the Sounders, helping pump the attendance at CenturyLink Field to 42,885—a record for the venue in Champions League play. The chants from each side battled back and forth for supremacy inside the stadium, providing a raucous atmosphere no matter who had possession.
Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer enjoyed the departure from Seattle’s usually dominant pro-Sounders environment.
“I think our fans were louder. Certainly, the Chivas fans in the building made some noise. I think it added to the atmosphere. The entire game, even in warm-ups the fans were going back and forth. It was good.”
Bwana shows promise in first start
18-year-old Handwalla Bwana made his first start for the Sounders Wednesday. The Homegrown Player, signed in the offseason from the University of Washington, impressed in his first long shift for Seattle.
Bwana finished with a shot on goal and complete 80 percent of his passes, but Schmetzer was equally pleased with the young player’s defensive contributions.
“The kid played great,” Schmetzer said of Bwana. “He came on and didn’t have any fear of the game. The game wasn’t too big for him. I was very impressed with his composure. You guys all saw the quality he brings. He runs at people. He can get by one or two guys. His passing is very clean. And probably the biggest surprise for me is sometimes you label attacking players as ‘they can’t defend,’ or ‘they don’t want to defend.’ The kid understands his role. He’s a young guy on the squad, so he’s got to be up and down and he did that tonight.”
Bwana was eventually removed from the match in the 73rd minute when he appeared to cramp up after being pulled down on a breakaway by Chivas’ Alan Pulido.
Position battle brewing between Nouhou and Waylon Francis?
Waylon Francis made his second Champions League start for Seattle and looked every bit what the Sounders were hoping for when they acquired the Costa Rican left back from the Columbus Crew for $50,000 in General Allocation Money in the offseason.
Francis’ performance made a case that a position battle may be in the works with Cameroonian 20-year-old Nouhou, who started Seattle’s last two matches.
Schmetzer sounded grateful to have options for depth at left back.
“It was partly squad rotation because Nouhou had played twice in a row,” Schmetzer said. “Waylon is a very capable left back. His attacking movements tonight were very very good. The timing of his runs and what he did with his crosses was good to put them under some pressure.”
Whether minutes get split or one player wins out, the Sounders seem to have two capable options to hold down the left side of the line.