PSG Eliminates Seattle Sounders 2-0 in FIFA Club World Cup

PSG advance to Round of 16 and will face the second place finisher of Group A, while MLS watches a second team eliminated from the tournament leaving just Inter Miami barring a poor result tonight.

Seattle, Washington– European champions Paris Saint-Germain delivered a masterclass performance to eliminate hosts Seattle Sounders FC 2-0 on Monday night, advancing to the FIFA Club World Cup knockout stage while crushing American soccer dreams on home soil. The Parisians’ clinical display at Lumen Field showcased the gulf in quality between Europe’s elite and Major League Soccer, as PSG’s star-studded squad controlled proceedings from start to finish to secure their place in the Round of 16. For Seattle Sounders and MLS as a whole, the elimination represents another painful reminder of the work still needed to compete with the world’s best clubs, as the league’s representatives continue to struggle on the global stage despite the advantage of playing in front of their passionate home supporters.

“It’s a happy day. It feels good,” said PSG midfielder Joao Neves. “We are going to Atlanta. We will try to put our idea into the game no matter what team we are playing against.”

The Ligue 1 winners, who suffered a shock defeat by Botafogo on Friday and were guaranteed a spot in the last 16 with a win over Seattle, scored in each half through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Achraf Hakimi.

With the 2-0 result in hand, coupled with Atletico Madrid’s 1-0 victory over Botafogo, PSG finished first in Group B with six points from three games. PSG face the Group A runners-up on Sunday in Atlanta, Georgia, while Botafogo will play the winner from that group on Saturday in Philadelphia, PA.

Seattle needed to beat PSG by a margin of three goals or more to have any chance of progressing. Unfortunately, they didn’t, and will exit the Club World Cup winless after three games played in their home stadium, which just makes the elimination more humiliating for Major League Soccer and the club.

“It was a good start,” Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said of his team’s effort. “We knew we were going to have to come out and be ready for the best league team in Europe so our guys came out into the game fired up.”

PSG broke through in the 35th minute, moments after the ball was cleared following a corner. The ball fell to a wide-open Vitinha on the edge of the box. Vitinha’s strike was headed off target but bounced off Kvaratskhelia’s back and into the Seattle goal.

PSG doubled down and took a commanding lead in the 66th minute after Bradley Barcola cruised into the area and, after an over-commitment by five Seattle players, spotted a wide-open Hakimi, who easily finished into the back of the net to seal the fate of the dismal Major League Soccer side.

“We managed to succeed in winning this match, I am happy,” said PSG manager Luis Enrique. “Of course, there’s a few things to fine tune but it is not easy to play on this type of pitch. It’s very different to European pitches. The grass is different, and therefore it is not so easy to have the same smoothness to play our style of play, but we did adapt well.”

Yet, the Sounders couldn’t take advantage of the turf or home crowd to get a point in this tournament. It was a perfect showcase of just how far Major League Soccer is from the true top 5 leagues in the world.