After securing a 3-0 first leg victory in Vancouver, the Sounders will look to finish the job back in Washington State. While the second leg is “hosted” by the Sounders, the second leg fixture will be played in Spokane since Lumen Field is being prepared for the FIFA World Cup.
The aggregate winner of this Champions Cup Round of 16 tie will face either Tigres UNAL or FC Cincinnati, and that second leg will be determined on the evening of March 19. Cincinnati faces a similar situation as the Sounders, also being 3-0 up with their first-leg victory. Cincinnati’s second leg, however, will be held at Tigres’ Estadio Universitario.
Head Coach Brian Schmetzer voiced his excitement to play in Spokane as a home match, saying that he’s “excited to play across the street. Stadium looks good, turf looks good. Some of the people on the east side of this great state that we get to interact with and hopefully put on a good show.”
Photo: Jon Brennan / House of Sounders
Being up on aggregate 3-0 does not mean the Sounders have an easy task against Vancouver, as this Whitecaps team has a powerful attacking threat. Seattle comes off a 1-0 road victory in San Jose, while Vancouver is coming off a 6-0 victory at home against Minnesota. This Seattle squad cannot afford to let their guards down, despite entering this second leg 3-0 up.
The first leg could not have been better for Seattle, as a 3-0 victory at BC Place against the strongest Whitecaps side of the MLS era was far from expected. Both sides were missing key players in the first leg due to injuries, including Vancouver’s Ryan Gauld, Ranko Veselinovic, and Belal Halbouni, as well as Seattle’s Jordan Morris, Pedro de la Vega, and Yeimar.
Paul Arriola scored a brace against the Whitecaps in the first leg, almost a year since his devastating ACL tear. Rothrock followed with the third goal to set up the team’s three-goal cushion. Arriola and Rothrock will go into this match with high spirits, alongside the rest of the Sounders team, being on a three-game winning streak in all competitions.
“Still work to be done for sure Vancouver’s a good squad and I know they feel a little snake bit with some of the goals,” said Brian Schmetzer, acknowledging the position that the Sounders are in going into the second leg.
Photo: Jon Brennan / House of Sounders
The Sounders have two “starting” goalkeepers in 2026, as the young and prepared Andrew Thomas assumed the role of MLS starter, succeeding Sounders club legend Stefan Frei. Frei was Seattle’s primary starting goalkeeper for 12 seasons, and now at the age of 39, he will be the club’s starter for Champions Cup games and has already played in the first leg.
“It’s been great,” Stefan Frei said when talking about the transition into his current role in the squad. “The biggest thing is ‘what is my purpose?’ I need to have purpose, and purpose doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the guy that is on the field 24/7 and is the one starter, playing every game … our success comes from the unit, not individuals, and so that was a big discussion for me and with coach, and others, at the end of last year is if I come back, what’s my purpose? And I think we found a good amount of purpose.”
Photo courtesy of Area Sports Network. Credit: Max Tagesen.
Compared to last season’s regular season match at BC Place, the Sounders were by far expected on paper to beat the Whitecaps due to an unprecedented depleted squad caused by a combination of international call-ups and a widespread illness that rocked the Vancouver squad prior to the matchday. However, two second-half Seattle red cards later and an overall poor Seattle performance, the Whitecaps defied the betting odds and defeated the Sounders 3-0.
Following that defeat, the Seattle Sounders played in the FIFA Club World Cup and changed the tide of performances into strong, consistent displays. Thus, given that the team learned from last year’s nightmare at BC Place, this Sounders squad knows that they cannot underestimate this era of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Now entering the Round of 16 second leg, being 3-0 up on aggregate, the key to advancing is to avoid coasting during the match and to extinguish any hopes of a Whitecaps comeback as early as possible.
Photo: Earving Marquez / House of Sounders
Brian Schmetzer’s coaching mentality matches the stakes of this second leg and the mental battle of being comfortably in the lead, saying during the pre-match press conference that “we’re not going to sit back. We understand the importance of scoring the first goal. So it’ll be a pretty typical Sounders game plan.”
“We always play to win, otherwise we’re wasting time,” Stefan Frei added to Schmetzer’s emphasis of going into the second leg strong.
The Sounders, playing at a home ground away from home, will have one focus: to finish the job.
Cover Photo: Jon Brennan / House of Sounders
