SEATTLE — Throughout the first leg of the Seattle Sounders’ Concacaf Champions League final against Pumas UNAM, Brian Schmetzer could be seen pointing to his head and yelling the Spanish phrase “cálmate.”
Basically, it means calm down. Put another way, it’s the opposite of a coach telling his players to go faster, suggesting that maybe putting their foot on the ball or taking a little longer on a throw-in wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
The Sounders, in Schmetzer’s view, have plenty of attacking talent. The goals will usually come.