Vancouver Whitecaps fall 3-0 to Seattle Sounders in leg 1 of Round of 16 in Concacaf Champions Cup

JORDAN FREW/GATG

A Thursday night matchup between Cascadia Cup rivals saw the Vancouver Whitecaps go down to the Seattle Sounders just before the half and were unable to recover, ultimately losing 3-0.

It was leg 1 of Round of 16 in the Concacaf Champions Cup. The Whitecaps will have the opportunity to recover in leg 2 based on aggregate goals, but will have to overcome this 3 goal deficit.

Both teams were getting chances during the first half. The Sounders got their first chance in the 14th minute, but Yohei Takaoka put a stop to that. After that, Whitecaps Thomas Müller sent a header over the net and Oliver Larraz got the ball over to Kenji Cabrera, but a Sounders player got in the way.

The Sounders opened the scoring at half, in the 45th minute and the Whitecaps were down 1-0 with half a game left to play.

In the 58th minute, Seattle’s Paul Arriola scored his second of the night, this one almost deemed offside, to double the Sounders lead

The Whitecaps almost got back within one in the 69th minute when the ball of a corner kick went high and Mathías Laborda headed it into the goalie. Ralph Priso then went for the rebound, but set the ball over the net.

Within the same minute, the Sounders took the ball down to the Whitecaps end, and Paul Rothrock came streaming down to seal the deal, kicking a trickling ball into the net for their third goal of the match.

Near the end of stoppage time Thomas Müller had the chance to cut Seattle’s lead to two, but he put it off the crossbar, securing the Sounders clean sheet and 3-0 win.

Leg 2 will take place in Spokane on March 18 with an 8pm kick off. Before that, the Whitecaps have one more game at home, shifting gears back to Major League Soccer action, taking on Minnesota United FC on March 15. Kickoff is set earlier at 1:30pm.