Sounders Win CONCACAF Champions League: National Media Reacts

SEATTLE, WA —Two goals from Raul Ruidiaz and a late strike from Nicholas Lodeiro gave the Seattle Sounders a 3-0 win on Wednesday, and a 5-2 aggregate victory, over Liga MX side Pumas in the CONCACAF Champions League final.

With the second-leg triumph, in front of a record crowd of 68,761 at Seattle's Lumen Field, the Sounders became the first Major League Soccer team to win the CCL Champions League since the tournament was rebranded from the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2008.

Four MLS teams had made the final since 2008, but lost. Mexican teams had won every tournament since the rebranding.

The last MLS team to win the confederation's championship was LA Galaxy in 2000.

"These are precious, precious moments. And then when you missed the opportunity a few times, you don't want to do it too often. So I'm really happy we're able to take care of this today and write history," said Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who made a key save on Diogo's 65th-minute free header Wednesday and ultimately was named Best Goalkeeper and Player of the Tournament.

Members of the national soccer media reacted to the Sounders' historic triumph, offering their thoughts about the significance for the franchise and the league.

ESPN's Jeff Carlisle called it a history-making moment for the Sounders and MLS.

"The win amounts to a badly needed feather in the cap of MLS," Carlisle wrote. "For what has seemed like forever, MLS commissioner Don Garber has been touting how the league's goal was to be the best in the world by some seemingly random date.

"Granted, it is part of Garber's job to talk up the league, but this laudable goal, however you define it, seemed to ignore the fact that you have to take care of business in your own region before you can start thinking of competing with the rest of the world.

"Now MLS can start to have dreams that are a bit more grounded in reality. Granted, it's going to take more than one title to claim regional dominance, but that can't begin until the first win is in the books. That is something that MLS now has. And it has to Seattle to thank."

Charles Boehm wrote about how, despite MLS's continued improvement, none of the league's teams —including the perennially successful Sounders —had been able to get their hands on the CCL trophy.

"That CCL trophy the Sounders happily hoisted has been a long, long time coming, for their club and MLS as a whole," Boehm wrote. "A white whale that haunted, tantalized and sometimes even seemed to taunt the league as Mexican teams outpaced them to it again and again, the Champions League served up one brutal buzzkill after another since its launch in 2008, even as MLS made such dramatic strides by so many other metrics."

On Deadspin, Sam Fels called Wednesday "MLS's biggest night," and wrote that it was fitting that the Sounders were the league's first team to lift the trophy.

"MLS has talked big about being the best league in North America, i.e. surpassing Liga MX. But you can't do that until you have the results," Fels wrote.

Fels continued: "It is fitting that it was Seattle to be the first (to win the CCL Champions League). They are the standard-bearer of the league, both on-and-off the field. They have been the best-supported team from jump street ...

"Sure, they found a perfect pocket as they came into MLS at the same time Seattle was reeling from the departure of the Sonics, and fans were looking to grab onto anything. But 13 years later that passion hasn't dissipated at all. Fans in a lot of other markets watch Sounders games and wish they could have that. I know I do. And bringing in 68,000, well, in the grand scheme of things there aren't actually that many clubs around the globe that can do so.

"Well done to the Sounders, and their fans. We're all appreciative of making us all dream."

Sam Stejskal, writing for The Athletic, was full of praise for the Sounders.

"From the moment they joined the league back in 2009, the Sounders have, in one way or another, consistently raised the bar for MLS," Stejskal wrote. "When the final whistle blew on Wednesday, as Lodeiro sprinted onto the field in a jubilant celebration and the crowd erupted in one last moment of rapture, they raised that bar to an unprecedented new level.

"Even before they won the CCL, the Sounders were the most successful MLS organization of the last decade. It's only fitting that they became the first to take the continental crown."