The situation looked bleak. Seattle’s matchup against CD Olimpia in the second game of its CONCACAF Champions League group phase had not gone to plan. Olimpia bagged an early goal at CenturyLink Field and bunkered the rest of the way. A makeshift Sounders XI could not find the breakthrough, despite its best efforts.
Entering the 90th minute, Olimpia came tantalizingly close to taking all three points and driving a stake through the fluttering heart of the Sounders’ CCL campaign. And then the cavalry arrived.
Substitute Erik Friberg leveled the game at 1-1 in the 90th minute by redirecting a cross, which ushered the crowd back into the match. The fourth official’s board went up with a five showing, an homage to the game’s choppiness, and Seattle needed all of that (and more).
In the 95th, Dylan Remick plunged into the box before being cut down, and the ref didn’t miss it. The penalty call set off a firestorm of protest from Olimpia’s players, which led to an en masse shoving match in the box. Minutes later, Brad Evans - another sub - hit the winning penalty to give the Sounders four points from their first two CCL matches.
That proved to be an immense thing, but it wasn’t the end of the story. On Sept. 23, the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps came to CenturyLink Field and Seattle stomped them 3-0 to lock up a place in the knockout stage. It had none of the drama of the Olimpia match a month earlier, but the result was just as shocking. A brace from Lamar Neagle and another from Nelson Valdez pushed Seattle into another knockout stage.
The MLS season tends to steal most of the spotlight away from the CCL, but this season was an exception for Sounders fans. Between blowouts and legendary results alike, this has already been a campaign to remember.
