Raul Ruidiaz scored two goals as the Seattle Sounders clobbered Pumas 3-0 on Wednesday in Washington, winning the CONCACAF Champions League via a 5-2 aggregate win over the Liga MX side.
The win is historic on multiple levels, qualifying the Sounders for the Club World Cup and making them the first winners of the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup in the Champions League era.
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“There will be many more CONCACAF Champions League winners, but there is only that does it for the first time for MLS,” said goalkeeper Stefan Frei. “We wrote ourselves into the history books.”
Seattle trailed 2-0 in the first leg but got a Nicolas Lodeiro brace to level the tie heading back to the United States. Lodeiro also scored in the second leg.
Manager Brian Schmetzer is probably gonna get a statue out of this, if Seattle hadn’t already been planning one based on the hometown kid’s pair of USL titles and two MLS Cups as head coach, and three Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cups as an assistant.
RAÚL RUIDÍAZ SENDS LUMEN FIELD INTO A FRENZY pic.twitter.com/yhYRePpbNc
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) May 5, 2022
Liga MX sides had won the CCL every year since the competition was rebranded in 2008, with most finals being all-Mexican. LAFC lost the 2020 final and Real Salt Lake were runners-up in 2011.
The LA Galaxy went 1-1 in Champions’ Cup finals, beating Olimpia in 2000 after falling to Cruz Azul in 1997. DC United beat Toluca 1-0 in 1998.
I couldn’t be more proud of this group of players……….and of course we do this for the fans. #ebfg #CCLCHAMPS pic.twitter.com/Bphl4vkVwR
— brian schmetzer (@brianschmetzer) May 5, 2022