Sounders set to begin historic FIFA Club World Cup campaign | OneFootball

MIAMI, Florida – The Seattle Sounders are set to begin their historic campaign in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, as they take on Al Ahly of Egypt in the Second Round on Saturday at the Iba Batouta Stadium in Tangier, Morocco.

Seattle are the first team from both Major League Soccer and the United States to represent Concacaf at a FCWC after they won the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Final last spring in a 5-2 aggregate victory over Pumas of Mexico.

Many of the same names who starred for the Sounders during that title-winning run are back in the fold for this journey into the FCWC.

Among the notables are GK Stefan Frei, who was named the Best Player of the 2022 SCCL, MF Cristian Roldan, who had five assists during last year’s tournament, and the attacking duo of Raul Ruidiaz and Nicolas Lodeiro.

Ruidiaz scored a pair of goals in Seattle’s 3-0 second leg win in the Final, while Lodeiro bagged a brace in the first leg before adding a score in the second leg.

Seattle will face an Al Ahly side that is brimming with confidence after posting a 3-0 win against Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) champions Auckland City of New Zealand in the First Round on Wednesday.

The 2022 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League winners were paced by three different goalscorers: Hussein El Shahat, Mohamed Sherif and Percy Tau. Frei and the Sounders defense will need to be at their sharpest to clamp down on the Al Ahly attack.

While Seattle are competing in their first FCWC, Al Ahly are making their eighth appearance in the tournament and have finished in Third-Place on three different occasions (2006, 2020, 2021).

In 12 all-time meetings between teams from Concacaf and the CAF in FCWC play, Concacaf teams have six wins, a draw and five defeats.