Sounders drawn into Group F of the CONCACAF Champions League

Group F sounds about right. The Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) draw has the Sounders playing the Vancouver Whitecaps and Club Olimpia from Honduras. The Sounders recently solved their boogie man problems that had followed the club for the past couple of seasons in Vancouver with a 2-0 manhandling of the 'Caps. Club Deportivo Olimpia, meanwhile, won the 2014-2015 Clausura of the Liga Nacional de Honduras.

Vancouver entered the tournament by finishing as the best Canadian side in the MLS last season after a change in the format of the Amway Canadian Championship forced the qualification to be the best MLS side. If you are reading this and don't know much about them, I'm not sure I can help you.

Club Deportivo Olimpia won the Honduran league last season. In the history of the CCL, Olimpia has 14 wins, 7 draws, and 11 losses over their 32 tournament games. The side has a goal differential of 13 (49 for, 36 against). Olimpia has been in the last six editions of the CCL with this marking the 7th straight, and total, appearance. The good news is that the Sounders have to travel to Central America only once, while CD Olimpia will have to come to the Cascadia region twice.

The Sounders have never played CD Olimpia, though MLS sides Sporting Kansas City, Portland Timbers, and the Houston Dynamo have played Olimpia in past editions of CCL. Last season Olimpia won their group, going 3-0-1 with their lone loss, 4-2, coming to the Timbers in Portland. In 2013-2014, Olimpia was drawn with SKC and finished second to Sporting in the group stage, going 2-1-1, while SKC finished 2-2-0. One match finished as a 2-0 win for SKC and the other was a 0-0 draw. Going back to the 2012-2013 edition, Olimpia lost the group to Houston but drew both matches with the Dynamo 1-1. The club is almost exclusively Honduran players, so start watching their World Cup Qualifiers and the U20 World Cup that is currently underway and look for Olimpia players.

The rules for the 2015-2016 iteration of the tournament did change when it came to the draw. Pools were announced originally based on how teams qualified, winning league, winning a cup, finishing high enough, etc. They were announced in three pots, with the Sounders is the top sides Pot A. The draw was modified this year with it being draw geographically into three pots with the USA sides (Seattle, Los Angeles, DC, and RSL) paired with the Mexican sides in Pot 3. A combination of Central American, Canadian, and Caribbean sides were in Pot 1. The remaining Central American sides were in Pot 2. Each pot was drawn one team at a time, then given a group from a different pot (Pots 4-6). One team from each pot was drawn into each group and the Sounders were drawn into a group of death. Though now clear, it was not clear if anyone else was informed though.

Yes, the way ccl draw played out was surprise to many. Unclear when teams were even informed. That said how does 7 matches vs van sound?

— Jeremiah Oshan (@JeremiahOshan) June 2, 2015

The dates have yet to be released for the first matches, so hold off purchasing your ticket to Honduras.

The rest of the groups are as follows:

Group A- W Connection, Saprissa, Santos Laguna

Group B- Isidro Metapan, Herediano, UANL Tigres

Group C- Verdes, San Francisco, Queretaro

Group D- Central FC, Comunicaciones, LA Galaxy

Group E- Walter Ferrati, Motagua, Club America

Group F- Vancouver Whitecaps, CD Olimpia, Sounders FC

Group G- Santa Tecla, Municipal, Real Salt Lake

Group H- Montego Bay United, Arabe Unido, DC United