Seattle Sounders eliminated from CONCACAF Champions Cup despite win

Facing a situation when they needed to be flawless, one mistake doomed the Sounders to an insurmountable deficit and an exit from the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The Sounders were eliminated from the tournament by Tigres UANL despite a 3-1 victory in Wednesday night's second leg of the quarterfinal matchup at Lumen Field.

The two-leg series finished tied 3-3 on aggregate scoring, but Tigres advanced thanks to scoring the only away goal over the two games on Joaquim Henrique's header in the 31st minute. The goal meant that the only way the Sounders could advance was winning by at least three goals, and it became a deficit too challenging to overcome.

To come back home and show that type of energy was something that I think we're all proud of," midfielder Cristian Roldan said. "But again, the difference is in front of goal at the highest of levels, and we fell short because we weren't cleaner in front of goal. Whether it was the first leg or second leg, that became the difference, I think, in the series."

While they fell short of completing their rally, the Sounders did make a substantial push over the final 45 minutes that nearly resulted in an unlikely comeback.

Danny Musovski scored in the opening moments of the second half to give the Sounders a 2-1 lead on the night. Albert Rusnak scored his second of the match with a stunning strike from the top of the penalty area through traffic in the 82nd minute that left the Sounders needing just one more goal to pull off the unlikely comeback.

But that final goal never came and for the second straight season the Sounders were bounced from the tournament by a Liga MX club. After becoming the first MLS club to win the current version of the club championship in CONCACAF in 2022, the Sounders failed to qualify for the tournament in 2023 and 2024, and last year were bounced in the round of 16 by Cruz Azul.

The Sounders were already facing an uphill climb after last week's 2-0 loss to Tigres in Monterrey, Mexico, which, most important, included the lack of scoring a road goal, which serves as the tiebreaker for these two-leg matchups.

"Getting one away goal there - and we did have a lot of chances in that game to be fair - I really think that came back to bite us," Musovski said.

Playing on their home field for the first time in 52 days thanks to the installation of the grass field to be used for the FIFA men's World Cup a couple of months from now, the Sounders received the start they needed to have a chance at the comeback thanks to Rusnak's early goal in the 11th minute. The goal was initially ruled offside, but a video review determined it was a good goal and gave Seattle an early jolt and at that point the Sounders needed only one other goal to at least force extra time.

But Henrique's goal changed the course of the night. It came off a corner kick following a Seattle turnover in its own half of the field. Jordan Morris was unable to box out Henrique for the free header. Henrique was also responsible for the goal in the first leg that gave Tigres a 2-0 advantage, although that goal was ruled an own goal.

"It was my guy on the corner," Morris said. "We worked a lot on corner kicks defending. He's really good in the air. He scored on us down there. So I put my hand up for that one."

From there, Tigres cleverly did everything it could to waste precious seconds and make it a challenging, sometime chippy, physical test for the Sounders for the final 60-plus minutes. The Sounders controlled possession and the majority of chances, and got some key saves midway through the second half from Stefan Frei to have a chance at completing the rally.

There were also a few complaints about the amount of stoppage time - or lack thereof - at the end of the match. The fourth official signaled for six minutes, which felt light considering the number of stoppages during the second half.

"I think we were all a little frustrated with how much time was added at the end of the game. I think one of their players was down for six minutes on his own," Morris said. "Again, it's not the refs fault that we didn't go through. We needed to do better on our chances, but there were some frustrating calls for sure."

Now the focus will return to MLS action for the Sounders, who will play their first home league match since the season opener on Saturday against St. Louis. Both Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer and Roldan referenced last year's Club World Cup and how the way the Sounders played in that tournament sparked a stretch of better performances and results after the event.

They're hoping to replicate it again.

"That was a good team. So you can use that momentum similarly the way we did it last year in the Club World Cup because the guys played well. They played well against a very, very top opponent, Schmetzer said.

BOX SCORE

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 11:43 PM.