Fresh off a disappointing loss in the CONCACAF Champions League, Sigi Schmid vowed to do better in next year’s competition if Seattle qualify.
“We want to be back next year in CONCACAF and we will do much better," Schmid said after his team’s 3-2 loss to Monterrey on Wednesday night.
RECAP:Monterrey 3, Seattle 2
If a positive is to be taken from the loss, it is the valuable experience gained by the players. The Sounders opted for a young roster in their fourth game on the CCL, and the gambit almost paid off.
In the beginning, Seattle were the better, more energetic team. Michael Fucito, a second-year player, led the Sounders offense to a two-goal lead. Taylor Graham and Tyrone Marshall—the two veterans on the field—marshaled Seattle’s defense to a shutout for the game’s first 70-plus minutes.
David Estrada and Miguel Montaño had their moments on the outside as well, good exposure for two players who have been surpassed at their positions as the season rolls on.
However, a disastrous four-minute span ruined Seattle’s chances of becoming the first MLS team to win a meaningful game in Mexico.
Fucito, though frustrated by the result, thought the match was a good learning experience, saying that the Sounders “did a lot well.” For a player like Fucito, who has seen limited playing time this season as he rehabbed from an injury, it was good to get a chance to perform in a difficult environment.
“I think it was just a couple-minute lapse that was the difference,” Fucito said. “We will take the positive things from this. I think there's some stuff that tactically we need to work on and make sure that we are concentrating for 90 minutes."
Although he was disappointed with the result, Schmid made a note team’s relative youth.
“We had a bad 10 minutes today,” he said. “But certainly we are still a young team in the second year of existence as a franchise. We learn every time we play together.”
Like many matches, the Monterrey game was a tale of two halves. Seattle fell apart late in the game, when the match slipped away. Schmid said he was “disappointed with how we performed in the last 30 minutes of the game."
The Sounders still have two more games in this competition. Many of the players who played against Monterrey can expect to play again, as Seattle use the final two matches against Marathón and Saprissa to season the more inexperienced players on the roster.
