Seattle Sounders FC Brace for Caledonia AIA

The Seattle Sounders FC will play their first match in the 2012/13 CONCACAF Champions League when they face Trinidad's Caledonia AIA on Aug. 2.

"They're probably the team right now going into the Champions League that we're going into the most blind," Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said about their upcoming contest. "They are not in their season yet. They've changed their roster, so they have different personnel than they had. We've seen clips of past games that they've had, but a lot of those are with players that aren't on the team right now."

The Sounders were a little inconsistent during their previous stint in the tournament, but they did make it all the way to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have any answers for Santos Laguna during the second leg of their quarterfinals matchup, and they ended up losing to the Mexican side via aggregate.

The format of the 2012/13 CONCACAF Champions League will be slightly different this time around, with only four games for each team in the Group Stage of the tournament. Instead of four teams per group, it'll be three teams this time around, with only the winner advancing to the championship stage.

The Sounders and Caledonia will be in Group 4 with Honduras' CD Marathon.

Given the compacted format of the 2012/13 CONCACAF Champions League, the Group Stage matches will be a lot more significant. Fortunately, the Sounders seem to be the best team in Group 4 on paper, and I expect them to make it to the championship rounds.

"Obviously, they're an athletic team," Schmid added. "They got a couple of big center-backs, so they're very dangerous on set pieces. Because when those guys get forward, they can cause some problems. They got a center-forward who's decent at holding up the ball; he's got some good size that we have to be aware of.

We have to make sure we don't get caught with the counter, that we don't get over exuberant. … The main important thing for us tomorrow night is to get the three points at home."

David has been a fan of the Seattle Sounders for the past 3 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter.
 
Sources:
Matt Gaschk, "Who is Caledonia AIA?"
SoundersFC.com, "Interview: Sigi Schmid 8/1"