Sounders fall to Monterrey 2-1 in the Champions League Group finale. Finish 2nd in Group D.

By Money Mike



The Seattle Sounders fell to Monterrey 2-1 in the final Group match of the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League, however the Sounders have already qualified for the Champions League quarterfinal after their 2-2 draw at Comunicaciones a couple of weeks ago. With the result, not only do Monterrey qualify for the Quarterfinals, they also clinch the top spot in Group D which would guarantee home field advantage in the second leg of the Champions League Quarterfinal. Seattle is three points ahead of Comunicaciones who play host to Herediano tomorrow night. Because of the fact that Seattle holds the first tiebreaker (the greater number of points earned in matches between the teams), no matter what happens in their match, Comunicaciones are eliminated from the Champions League.

Rookie Bryan Meredith made his professional debut on goal and right away in the third minute, some miscommunication resulted in an opening goal for Monterrey. Humberto Suazo sent a perfectly timmed long ball forward for Abraham Dario Carreno who was kept onside by defender Jeff Parke. Carreno tapped the ball easily past Meredith to put the visitors in front.

In the 42nd minute, the Sounders struck right back and tied the match up. Fredy Montero, after drawing a foul six yards away from the penalty area, stepped up to take the free kick. Montero snuck the ball inside the post from 25 yards away for his 18th goal this season in all compititions.

In the 61st minute, Monterrey re-took the lead. Humberto Suazo operated a give-and-go with Carreno before having his shot blocked. The ball redirected to Cesar Delgado who thumped one past Bryan Meredith to put Monterrey up for good as they clinch Group D.

Now that the U.S. Open Cup is out of the way and qualifying for the Champions League quarterfinal is out of the way, it's time now to turn our focus to the MLS Cup. The Sounders close out regular season play saturday in Los Angeles as they take on Chivas USA. Following that they will head to Salt Lake or Dallas for the first leg of the MLS Cup Quarterfinals.


Scoring summary:

Monterrey - Abraham Dario Carreno (Humberto Suazo) 3'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (unassisted) 42'

Monterrey - Cesar Delgado (unassisted) 61'


Misconduct summary:

Monterrey - Luiz Perez (caution; Reckless foul) 41'

Seattle Sounders FC - Zach Scott (caution; Reckless foul) 58'

Monterrey - Severo Meza (caution; Delaying a restart) 75'

Monterrey - Humberto Suazo (caution; Delaying a restart) 82'

Monterrey - Miguel Morales (caution; Delaying a restart) 94'+


Lineups:

Monterrey - Jonathan Orozco (Juan de Dios Ibarra 73'); Severo Meza, Ricardo Osorio, Miguel Morales, Jose Basanta; Luiz Perez, Cesar Delgado (Neri Cardozo 80'), Sergio Perez; Abraham Dario Carreno, Sergio Santana, Humberto Suazo

Seattle Sounders FC - Bryan Meredith; James Riley, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 67'), Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl; David Estrada (Lamar Neagle 79'), Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Roger Levesque; Sammy Ochoa (Mike Fucito 74'), Fredy Montero