Show me 100 postgame coach reaction shots, and I’ll pick the losing coach 99 percent of the time. A losing coach looks like a kid who just threw a baseball through a window — head down, moving quickly away from the scene of the crime.
But not Sounders coach Sigi Schmid Wednesday night in Mexico. Though the Sounders had just lost to CONCACAF Champions League foes UANL Tigres 1-0 — on a questionable goal, no less — Schmid kept his head up, shook his assistants’ hands, and moseyed off the field at a medium pace.
Perhaps because it wasn’t really a loss. First of all, the Sounders gave up only one goal despite being decisively outplayed. Second of all, Wednesday’s game was the first leg of a home-and-home playoff series. UANL Tigres will play the Sounders at Qwest Field next Tuesday, March 12. And, despite having what’s clearly an inferior team, the Sounders would be able to send the series to penalty kicks with a 1-0 result, or advance with a two-goal win. (UANL Tigres would advance if they win, tie, or score a goal and lose by one, due to the away goals rule.)
Schmid’s head was up, and so should be the Sounders’. It took a team effort to avoid a blow-out road loss (like in last year’s quarterfinal) despite trailing in possession and shots. Leo Gonzalez cleared a shot off the line in the third minute. Michael Gspurning made a couple of terrific saves. Eddie Johnson’s speed and skill forced the Tigres to keep defenders back.
So the Sounders will have — not an even shot, surely, but a puncher’s chance — of making the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals for the first time. Progress! In the Sounders’ first CONCACAF Champions League appearance, in 2010-11, they didn’t make it out of the group stage. In their second appearance, in 2011-12, they made it out of the group stage but lost in the quarterfinals. They didn’t qualify for the 2013-14 event, so this is the last chance for CONCACAF glory for at least two years.
