Message Boards

Gold Cup, World Cup, CONCACAF Champions League or even SuperLiga, U.S.-Mexico match-ups usually produce spirited games.

The Seattle Sounders FC will get baptized into fray Wednesday when it hosts Monterrey in the second round of the CONCACAF Champions League's Group Stage at Seattle's Qwest Field.

Monterrey sits atop Group C, along with Marathon from Honduras, after a 1-0 win against Saprissa Tuesday night at home.

After winning their Champions League debut on Tuesday, the Rayados had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Pachuca on Saturday at Nuevo Hidalgo despite second-half goals by Humberto Suazo and Jesus De Nigris.

The result put Monterrey one point behind Santos in the Mexican Apertura with 11 points from five matches, just missing taking the Group 1 lead when Daniel Arreola Arguello equalized in the 90th minute.

"Of course, one is left unsatisfied by the circumstances that occurred," Monterrey coach Victor Manuel Vucetich said. "One of the virtues that the team is having is not to despair. The players are extremely combative and patient, bringing a well-defined character and virtue that we can resume at any given time share and claim the result."

Seattle, meanwhile, will be looking to recover from a 2-1 loss to Marathon in San Pedro Sula on Thursday. Roger Levesque gave the visitors an early lead, but the Sounders FC conceded a pair of unanswered goals, including the equalizer on a disputed penalty.

"It never feels good to lose, it doesn't matter where it is or what country it is," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "For us, we'll learn from this, we'll take a look at what we did well and didn't do well. Marathon obviously did their job."

Seattle, which is in fourth in Major League Soccer's Western Conference with 29 points, didn't have an MLS match this past weekend.

After losing on the road last week, Saprissa will no doubt be confident ahead of Thursday night's match against Marathon. That's because the game will be played at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, a 23,112-seat fortress known as La Cueva del Monstruo (the Monster's Cave) and has become a favorite for the Costa Rican national team.

At Estadio Rosabal Cordero on Saturday, Saprissa lost 3-1 to Herediano as Froylan Ledezma converted a pair of second-half penalty kicks for the host. Alejandro Sequeira scored the lone goal for Saprissa, which are coming off consecutive defeats in the Costa Rican Apertura.

Marathon claimed its first league victory on Sunday, beating 10-man Motagua 1-0 at Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano with Randy Diamond striking the winner in the second minute of second-half stoppage time.

Diamond was also instrumental in Marathon's come-from-behind 2-1 win against Seattle in the CONCACAF Champions League last week. He set up Orvin Paz's equalizer and was fouled by Tyrone Marshall in the box resulting in a penalty kick that Nicholas Cardozo converted for the winner.