SEATTLE — By now, having a monumental hill to climb is nothing new for the Seattle Sounders in the Club World Cup.
They’ve faced the reigning Copa Libertadores champions. They’ve faced a perennial contender in Spanish and European competition. They’ve done it all while missing their best defender and top goal-scorer.
Although the Sounders have not yet secured a point, they’ve at least remained competitive. While no one was happy with the 2-1 loss to Botafogo or the 3-1 loss to Atlético Madrid, players and coaches were mostly satisfied with their performanes.
But the task before them today is something else.
The Sounders will face the reigning UEFA Champions League winners, a team that won that title a few weeks ago with a resounding 5-0 dismemberment of one of Europe’s top defenses. Not only that, but Paris Saint-Germain finds themselves in a potential must-win situation themselves. Without knowing the result of Group B’s other match between Botafogo and Atlético Madrid, PSG will enter their match against the Sounders believing that anything less than three points could lead to their elimination.
The Sounders, it should be said, are technically still alive. If Botafogo beats Atléti, the Sounders could advance by merely beating the best team in the world by three goals (or more!).
“Our mentality and the message from the staff is we’re going to take this game seriously,” Sounders right back Alex Roldan said following Sunday’s training session. “We’re going to go out and there and try to showcase what the Seattle Sounders can do on a global stage.
“We’re excited for this challenge, and hopefully we can put in a good performance.”
An argument could be made that this is either an opportune time to face PSG, or the absolute worst.
From a positive perspective, the Sounders have already proven to themselves that they can hang with some of the best teams in the world. The Sounders out shot and out-possessed Botafogo, while also creating more and better scoring chances. During the final 20 minutes of that game, especially, a result felt entirely possible. This is the same Botafogo who beat PSG 1-0 a few days later.
The Sounders followed up that performance with a solid showing against Atléti, albeit one in which they were clearly second best. The recurring refrain from the Atléti loss was that the Sounders’ opponents were simply more explosive, more precise, more ruthless in their execution. There’s an undeniable gap in talent, but that it might not be quite as wide as it seemed.
“I think if this tournament showed us anything, it’s that it’s a more level playing field than people probably would have thought,” Sounders winger Paul Rothrock said, pointing the South American teams’ success and to the relative lack of blowouts. “I think that distance is closing for sure.”
That will be put to an extreme test against PSG, an opponent quite unlike any that an MLS team has ever faced in a competitive match.
PSG’s roster is collectively worth more than $1 billion and they have 10 players who are each worth more than the Sounders’ entire roster, according to Transfermarkt.
This will be the 61st match that PSG has played across all competitions this season. They’ve posted a +100 goal-difference, lost by multiple goals just twice, never trailed by three goals at any point this season and went 44-8-8 on their way to winning every competition they entered.
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The flip side to the timing of this game is that PSG can’t afford to risk dropping points and will likely field their best possible lineup after rotating against Botafogo.
“I don’t know if there’s ever a good time to face them, but they are human and Botafogo got a good result,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “They put their pants on one leg at a time and there are some things they’re susceptible to.
“Having said that, we totally understand the reality of our predicament and the situation. It is going to be a challenging game.”
