Sounders qualify for 2025 men’s Club World Cup

Seattle Sounders, Sports

TUKWILA — The path back to the FIFA men’s Club World Cup for the Sounders became an expressway Tuesday.

At its council meeting, soccer’s governing body approved how teams will qualify for the expanded 2025 CWC tournament, which will feature 32 teams from FIFA’s six regions around the globe and an invited host club. The four slots for the CONCACAF region will go to winners of the 2021-2024 Champions League tournaments.

CONCACAF confirmed Tuesday that two of the automatic qualifiers are Mexico’s CF Monterrey, who won the 2021 CCL title, and the Sounders, who became the first MLS team to win the CCL trophy in 2022.

The current CCL tournament is playing the second leg of the Round of 16 matches beginning this week. If Monterrey, Seattle or the team crowned the 2023 CCL winner were to also win in 2024, the next-best team in the region based on FIFA rankings would receive the fourth berth.

“I’m super excited and super pumped to be involved in the Club World Cup,” said Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer, who’s now the first MLS coach to qualify twice. “It’s a long way away, but it’s something to look forward to. The club earned that right to play in the new format.”

The Sounders lost their maiden CWC match 1-0 to Confederation of Africa’s Al Ahly (Egypt) last month in Morocco. Union of European Football Associations’ Real Madrid (Spain) entered the seven-team tournament for the semifinal round and advanced to win a record fifth Club World Cup title.

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In addition to the 2025 tournament featuring more teams, FIFA shifted the Club World Cup to a quadrennial event that will be played in June. Details haven’t been finalized, but it’s likely to mirror the World Cup with eight groups of four for pool play and the top two clubs from each group advancing to single-elimination knockout rounds.

The current seven-team CWC will dissolve after the 2023 tournament this winter in Saudi Arabia. The FIFA council also approved the concept of a yearly club tournament to “stimulate competitiveness” beginning in 2024. The only firm detail provided Tuesday was the final would be at a neutral site with the reigning UEFA Champions League winner playing the winner of the intercontinental playoffs between the other confederations.

New plan

Sounders striker Raul Ruidiaz is under a new training regime to manage his hamstring injuries. He missed the club’s two home matches to open the season due to a strain.

Ruidiaz was pulled from short-field games Tuesday moments after a slick back-heel shot into goal a startled Stefan Frei. Ruidiaz didn’t mask his displeasure at being told the day’s session was over for him.

“Sometimes players that are super competitive don’t like it when they can’t play as many games as their buddies,” Schmetzer said after training at Starfire Sports. “This is probably going to be all year. Jordan [Morris] is modified, [Joao Paulo] is modified, other guys are modified when they come back from injury. Raul is going to be on that program. He doesn’t like it … but it’s the best thing for his hamstrings. It’s the best thing to keep him healthy.”

Looking back

The Sounders (2-1) are thankful to be home to host Los Angeles FC (2-0) on Saturday at Lumen Field. The match will kick off at 1 p.m. and can be viewed on Fox or for free on Apple TV+.

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No one wants to liken Seattle’s 1-0 loss Saturday to FC Cincinnati to their struggles last season, but it’s the ninth time in Seattle’s past 10 road matches that it has lost by one goal. The Rave Green are 0-10-1 on the road since winning 2-0 at Toronto in July.

“We didn’t have our sharpest game. But in the end, you felt like you could’ve gotten a result and that was a lot like last year,” Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “But [last week] was a one-game thing. We’re going to go through spells where we’re good and bad, which is part of the sport, but how can you get those points when you’re not at your best? That’s going to be really important this year.”

LAFC won the league’s Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup last year. It is in the midst of playing four matches in a 10-day span due to a two-legged CCL series with Costa Rica’s L.D. Alajuelense.

“The intensity that Cincinnati brought to us, we need to bring to LAFC,” Roldan said. “It’s another opportunity to send a statement out to the rest of the league and ourselves that we can compete with the best on a weekly basis.”