SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 15: Joaquim #28 celebrates his goal with Jesús Angulo #27 of UANL Tigres during the first half against the Seattle Sounders FC at Lumen Field on April 15, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
SEATTLE - The Seattle Sounders put together a valiant effort against Tigres UANL in the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals, only to have the dreaded away goals tiebreaker come into play.
Albert Rusnák scored twice and Danny Musovski also converted a goal, but a header from Joaquim Henrique in the 31st minute allowed Tigres UANL to advance to the Champions Cup semifinals with a 3-3 result on aggregate on Wednesday night.
"Just disappointment," Musovski said. "I thought we were the better team. We had more of the chances. I think that first leg really came back to bite us, not being able to get a goal over there. We played really well."
The Sounders lost 2-0 to Tigres last week in Mexico, which put them in the sizable hole they had to summit in the second leg of the match. Rusnák's first goal in the 11th minute – which was initially deemed offsides before being overturned by VAR – gave the Sounders a real chance to rally.
A 2-0 result in Seattle's favor would have forced extra time. However, that hope evaporated on Joaquim's header. Juan Brunetta's cross into the box was directed by Stefan Frei to tie the game at 1-1 and give Tigres the 3-1 advantage overall, along with the tiebreaker.
"It just made things a little more challenging," head coach Brian Schmetzer said. "Obviously, that isn't the goal that we wanted to give up. We talked about keeping a clean sheet in this game, we had talked about giving up a set-piece goal down there. We worked on it in training, so obviously it was disappointing to give up that goal.
"Our guys fought back, got ourselves back into the game and had numerous chances to score the fourth goal, whether that was after Albert's golazo, but even in the first half we had the chance to score one or two more. I think we created a lot of quality chances tonight."
Halftime substitute Danny Musovski made an immediate impact, scoring on what might have been his first touch of the night to close the gap to one. Musovski's flick on goal off a pass from Jordan Morris beat Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán to cut the aggregate score to 3-2.
Frei came up with a big save on Rodrigo Aguirre in the 61st minute, and another on a header by Ángel Correa in the 66th to keep the game from getting away from them.
Rusnák's brilliant strike in the 82nd minute beat Guzmán to the far post to even the match up at 3-3, setting the stage for a frantic final 15 minutes through stoppage time.
With all the replay delays and injury stoppages, it seemed like there could have been more than the six extra minutes awarded by the officials.
Musovski was shoulder checked off his feet by Juanjo Purata in the 76th minute into Guzmán and Musovski was the one shown a yellow card by the officials, one of five yellows issued on the night – three for Tigres and two for Seattle. After selling two inconsequential plays as injurious earlier in the contest, Guzmán was rightfully down for several minutes after the collision.
"I don't know how there was six minutes of stoppage time there at the end of that game or how the ref came to that decision when the guy that got kicked in the head was down for at least six minutes there alone," Musovski said. "That's just what I'm confused about and still have no answers on, but yeah, just disappointed.
Ultimately, the 3-3 tie wasn't enough for the Sounders, who saw their Champions Cup run come to an end. Tigres UANL will advance to face Nashville SC in the semifinals, who advanced out of their matchup with Club América with a 1-0 aggregate result.
The Sounders became the first MLS team to win the Concacaf Champions League in 2022, which earned them a spot in last summer's FIFA Club World Cup.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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