Pumas vs Seattle Sounders leave it all for the final leg
In Ciudad Universitaria with over 50,000 people in the stands in the Estadio Olympico which what promised to be another great duel in a Concacaf Champions League final between an MLS team and a Liga MX team.
Both Pumas and Seattle Sounders go into this Concacaf Champions League final as the middle of the pack teams in their respective leagues.
Seattle was looking for a favorable result in the first leg and boy did they get one.
The Sounders looked to pressure as soon as the initial whistle sounded and forced Pumas to match the intensity in the first 30 minutes of the half.
The deadlock tie was not broken until the 37th minute as Pumas was awarded a penalty when Juan Ignacio Dinenno was dropped by two Seattle defenders. The referee went to the VAR and confirmed the penalty.
Dinenno went to take the penalty and Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei stepped up and blocked the would-be goal for Dinenno and Pumas. As the Sounders players congratulated Frei the referee received a call from VAR and they deemed that Frei did not stay on the goal line and the penalty had to be taken again.
This time Dinenno would not miss as he scored the penalty giving los felinos the 1-0 lead in the first half.
Just Pumas was about to head into halftime in high spirits with the 1-0 lead, Los Felinos suffered a very serious injury to a key player as Alan Mozo was taken out of the pitch in the 44th minute suffering a knee injury. A serious blow to Pumas losing a key player like Alan Mozo.
As the 2nd half began everyone was looking to see if the injury to Mozo would cause a drop in energy for Los Felinos but that did not happen at least in the early minutes as Dinenno received a cross into the box by Jesus Rivas who set the ball perfectly for Dinenno to head the ball into the back of the net with a thundering header. Giving Pumas the 2-0 lead in what would look like a game that they would comfortably be adding more goals to.
Although the Sounders were down 0-2 they were not ready to fold and in doing so they kept pressuring and creating opportunities one in particular in which Pumas goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera was able to dive and have an amazing save against Raul Ruidiaz who could not believe the save in the box.
Seattle’s break finally came in the final 15 minutes as they were awarded a controversial penalty when a Pumas defender dove inside the box to block a cross but the ball ricocheted off his harm. The controversy was not on the handball but a shove inside the box from a Seattle player to a Pumas defender in the same sequence which the referee did not deem a foul.
Nicolas Lodeiro was the man in charge of taking the penalty for Seattle, and Talavera was trying to play his part in talking to Lodeiro trying to get him distracted and off his game for the shot. Lodeiro though calmly stepped into the box and converted the penalty and after had a few words for Talavera which would be the beginning of their shouting match.
An additional six minutes of stoppage time was given and that was exactly what the team from Washington needed as they were able to get another penalty as Lodeiro was hit inside the edge of the 18-yard box.
Initially, the referee did not deem a foul inside the box but the play was reviewed by VAR and the referee then deemed it a penalty for the Sounders and Lodeiro once again faced a talking Talavera and was able to pull out the same result giving the Sounders the 2-2 tie.
As the referee blew the whistle which ended the game in a 2-2 tie, Talavera went looking for Lodeiro after the match and both men had to be separated.
The series will now be fully decided in the final 90 minutes or more next week Wednesday, May 4th, in Seattle at 10:00 pm ET/ 7:00 pm PT.
