Seattle Sounders are in pole position to win the Concacaf Champions League title for the first time in their history after they came back from two goals downto secure a 2-2 draw against Mexican ten Pumas UNAM. Sounders and Pumas shared a four-goalthriller at the end of the first leg which took place in Mexico.

In addition to winning the Concacaf Champions League for the first time in their history, Seattle Sounders can also re-write history by becoming the first team from Major League Soccer (MLS) to win the competition. The two-time MLS champions have work in the second leg at Lumen Field to do to achieve the feat.

The Seattle Sounders players had to overcome tough conditions to secure a first leg draw thus putting them in control of the tie ahead of the second leg in Seattle. The match was played at 7,000 metres above sea level and rain didn’t help playing conditions though rain is a regular occurrence in Seattle.

Centre referee Ivan Barton had a lot of incidents to deal with in the first leg earlier this week especially in the first half. He awarded a penalty to hosts Pumas after Juan Dinenno went down in the Seattle Sounders box despite the protest from the MLS team. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei then saved the initial penalty taken by Dinenno after VAR had given the go ahead for the spot kick. Frei was ruled to have his two feet off the line and he was unable to save the penalty replay from Dinenno. The penalty goal from Dinenno gave Pumas a 1-0 lead into the interval. Dinenno completed his brace three minutes into the second half before Seattle Sounders started the fightback with two penalties in the last 17 minutes with Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro stepping up to score both penalties to ensure that the MLS giants are in the driving seat ahead of the second leg.