Santos rout Seattle in the second leg

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders were up 2-1 on aggregate going into the away leg against Santos Laguna, but Santos came right back and knocked the Sounders out of the Champions League. Not only did the Sounders get eliminated, they got owned. Santos won the second leg by a final count of 6-1 and won the series 7-3 on aggregate. I know this was not going to be easy. I know that Santos were the favorites to move on, but did I think that it would end like this? Well, no I didn't. Seattle kicks off their 2012 MLS campaign this Saturday at home against Toronto FC, who by the way, just knocked the Los Angeles Galaxy out of the Champions League.

Santos got things going early in the match. In the 8th minute, Cristian Suarez looked like he was well defended at first, but he fired a low left foot drive past Michael Gspurning and into the low left corner. Two minutes later, Santos struck again. This time it was Oribe Peralta fighting off Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and slotting it home for the goal to make it 2-0 Santos in the second leg and 3-2 Santos on aggregate. It was Peralta's 5th goal of the tournament. Seattle did manage to regroup though. Doing a better job at keeping possession and creating a couple of chances to pull level in the series and in the 37th minute, they did just that. Fredy Montero's curling ball found Alvaro Fernandez for the goal that leveled the series up at 3-3. The momentum looked like it shifted Seattle's way after that goal.

Unfortunately, the momentum was lost and things got ugly for the Sounders in the second half. In the second half, it was Herculez Gomez off a feed from Cristian Suarez to put Santos back up on aggregate. Gomez would add another one in the 68th minute. Cristian Suarez would then add his second goal in the 76th minute. And then Santos would add one more in the 81st minute from Carlos Ochoa. The Sounders 2011-12 Champions League campaign is over, tough way to start the 2012 season.


Observations:

Again, it's a tough way for Sigi Schmid and his team to end your Champions League run. I'd still give the Sounders credit. In their first season in the Champions League in 2010-11, they finished last place in group play, only finishing with three points. In 2011-12, I just wondered how far they could go, if they're good enough to compete in their group and looking at their group prior to their first match against Comunicaciones, I thought maybe they do have a chance here and they ended up finishing second in the group with 10 points. I wasn't too pleased with the result, but like I said, I'm impressed with their performance overall in the Champions League and I'm looking forward to watching them compete in MLS this season.

On my last preview, I said that the altitude could play a factor here in the second leg and I have to say, it really got to the Sounders in this game. The defense got caught on a few breaks. Fredy Montero, really struggled this series despite picking up two assists. Mauro Rosales and Alvaro Fernandez were the only ones who looked alive in this game. Soccer players in America are taught to play under a low altitude, not high altitude and a 90 degree temperature. That's why I'd prefer playing in a cold environment.

This team's going to get better at this stage as they continue to progress. Will this loss effect their confidence? No. We have a team that can compete and will compete for the Championship and it's easy to believe that with the Sounders right now than it was with the Mariners about a couple of years ago. You would have to be a stupid ignorant moron to deny the fact that the Sounders are one of the teams to beat in Major League Soccer.


Scoring summary:

Santos Laguna - Cristian Suarez (unassisted) 8'

Santos Laguna - Oribe Peralta (Daniel Luduena) 10'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez (Fredy Montero) 37'

Santos Laguna - Herculez Gomez (Cristian Suarez) 49'

Santos Laguna - Herculez Gomez (Oribe Peralta, Jorge Estrada) 68'

Santos Laguna - Cristian Suarez (Jorge Estrada) 76'

Santos Laguna - Carlos Ochoa (unassisted) 81'

* Santos Laguna advances 7-3 on aggregate.


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; foul) 14'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; handball) 30'

Santos Laguna - Oribe Peralta (caution; dissent) 41'

Santos Laguna - Felipe Baloy (caution; fight) 45'

Santos Laguna - Juan Pablo Rodriguez (caution; foul) 80'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez (Christian Sivebaek 77'); Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez; David Estrada (Eddie Johnson 62', Roger Levesque 81'), Fredy Montero

Santos Laguna - Oswaldo Sanchez; Jorge Estrada, Aaron Galindo, Felipe Baloy, Osmar Mares; Marc Crosas (Rodolfo Salinas 33'), Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Daniel Luduena (Candido Ramirez 63'); Cristian Suarez, Herculez Gomez (Carlos Ochoa 69'), Oribe Peralta

Sounders edge Santos Laguna 2-1

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders got back to business and picked up where they left off last season, scoring goals. The Sounders came away with a 2-1 victory over a talented Santos Laguna side in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal. The second leg will be next wednesday on Santos's home ground before Seattle opens up MLS play at home against Toronto FC on March 17. One thing that's going to stand out heading into the second leg is the away goal by Santos. I just hope that it doesn't come back to bite Seattle and that they would ease their way through to the semifinal where they would have the home field advantage in the second leg.

Seattle got things going early in the match. In the 5th minute, Mauro Rosales had a go from outside the penalty area, but there wasn't much on it and Oswaldo Sanchez made an easy save in the center of the goal. Two minutes later, Fredy Montero got on the end of an Adam Johansson cross, but again it came to nothing.

In the 12th minute, first blood went to Seattle. Fredy Montero sent in a beautiful curling ball to the far post for a free header from David Estrada and he made no mistake, a downward header past the keeper Oswaldo Sanchez and in the back of the net to give the Sounders a 1-0 lead. Estrada, who hasn't seen much playing time in his first two seasons here and looked ready to leave the club, got the start today over Eddie Johnson and he delivered by scoring his first professional goal. Seattle had another opportunity in the 18th minute. Adam Johansson once again whipped in a good cross for Fredy Montero. This time the header was on target, but Sanchez got his hand to it to force it wide. Santos started creating opportunities in the last 15 minutes of the first half but failed to find the back of the net. Seattle's last real opportunity in the first half came from Alvaro Fernandez. A curler to the far post from just outside the area that just sailed over the bar.

Things went pretty quiet in the first 15 minutes of the second half in terms of creating chances, but then in the 61st minute, Santos Laguna struck back. Marc Crosas sent in a little chip into the penalty area and found Herculez Gomez making a diagonal run in front of Sounders left back Leonardo Gonzalez. Gomez turned and slotted the ball past Michael Gspurning and into the far corner of the net to tie this match up at a goal a peice. I don't know if Gspurning got a touch on that, but that was poor defending though by Gonzalez. That is a vital away goal for Santos Laguna because that puts a little pressure on the Sounders heading into the second leg on their home ground which is really a difficult place to play. However, it didn't take long for Seattle to hit back and re gain the lead.

In the 63rd minute, Mauro Rosales sent in a free kick from the far side of the pitch, an inswinger into the six yard box where Brad Evans battled off a Santos defender and headed it over Oswaldo Sanchez and into the bottom left corner of the net to restore Seattle's one goal lead. From there, Seattle looked content to hold the lead in their first competitive match of the year 2012 and they nearly got a third goal as Eddie Johnson, who entered the match for Alvaro Fernandez in the 78th minute, nearly made an immediate impact and his header in the 80th minute missed wide of goal. That was just about the last scoring chance as Seattle hold's on for a 2-1 win.


Observations:

I tell you what from what I've seen, Oribe Peralta sure had a rough ass time out there for Santos Laguna. He did have a couple of looks at goal in this match, but both center backs Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado did very well to shut him down and keep him off the score sheet in this match. I had Peralta as one of the players to watch on my match preview, saying that if the center backs get caught sleeping, Peralta would make them pay big time. So I think the backline did a pretty good job defensively in this match, not to mention the goal by Herculez Gomez. Personally though, I think these guys need to tighten up a bit defensively in the second leg because there were some openings that Santos found, but fortunately for the Sounders they were unable to take advantage of that.

We had a lot of pushing and shoving from the players in this match and the referee did a poor job in this one. Seven yellow cards were isssued in this game and the referee did a poor job keeping the players under control and that will just piss every soccer fan off, including me. It's just rediculous when you have a lot of brawls in a match as well as cards that should've been issued to players and haven't. This happened in the preliminary match here at home against San Francisco F.C. Every a match turns into a bitch fight between both teams and the referee's don't do anything about it, then it's pretty obvious they shouldn't be officiating any matches at all. Not even friendlies.

It was really an exciting night for Seattle and the Sounders. I was at the match, I enjoyed it. I was hoping for a better result in this match, but I'll take the 2-1 win. Right now, the away goal by Herculez Gomez could be the factor in this series. Hopefully, Seattle can hang on and advance to the Champions League semifinal.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - David Estrada (Fredy Montero, Leonardo Gonzalez) 12'

Santos Laguna - Herculez Gomez (Marc Crosas) 61'

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (Mauro Rosales) 63'


Misconduct summary:

Santos Laguna - Juan Pablo Rodriguez (caution; Dangerous play) 28'

Santos Laguna - Osmar Mares (caution; Dissent) 29'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Foul) 33'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Foul) 58'

Santos Laguna - Oswaldo Sanchez (caution; Dissent) 65'

Santos Laguna - Santiago Hoyos (caution; Dissent) 80'

Seattle Sounders FC - David Estrada (caution; Dangerous play) 89'


Lineups:

Santos Laguna - Oswaldo Sanchez; Ivan Estrada, Aaron Galindo, Santiago Hoyos, Osmar Mares; Marc Crosas, Juan Pablo Rodriguez (Rodolfo Salines 84'), Daniel Luduena (Candido Ramirez 74'); Cristian Suarez, Herculez Gomez (Carlos Ochoa 84'), Oribe Peralta

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez (Eddie Johnson 78'); David Estrada (Marc Burch 89'), Fredy Montero

Seattle Sounders get ready to battle Santos Laguna in the Champions League Quarterfinal

By Money Mike



The Seattle Sounders have spent almost two months preparing for what is already considered their biggest match of the season. There are times for friendlies. This sure as hell is not one of them. The Seattle Sounders take on Santos Laguna in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Quarter final at home this Wednesday at 7pm. Santos recently just fell short of the Primera Division de Mexico Apatura title, falling to Tigres de la UANL in the Championship and right now they're halfway through their Clasura campaign, currently sitting in forth place. The Sounders, coming off three straight first round exits in the MLS Cup playoffs, have made some big moves during the offseason to avoid a forth straight early exit from the playoffs. Odds are going to be against the Sounders for this matchup with Santos, but this team looks stronger right now than they were in the playoffs last season.

It's a tough thing for any MLS club. Having to go through the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League before kicking off league play. Columbus and Real Salt Lake faced eachother in the quarterfinal round last year with RSL winning that one 4-1 on aggregate, but what's different though is that RSL had a Champions League semifinal match before kicking off their MLS campaign. Fortunately for them, they managed to advance to the final before coming up short to Monterrey.

The chances of an MLS club making it to the Champions League final this year are about a 3/4 chance because the winner of this match will face the winner of the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC who will also face eachother on Wednesday in the first leg at the Rogers Centre in Toronto which is of course where the Toronto Blue Jays play, and I heard that match has been sold out. I don't expect a big crowd at CenturyLink Field for the Sounders first leg match, but what I will tell you guys is that I will be there to catch the match in person.


Players to watch:

Santos Laguna:

Oswaldo Sanchez - If you're a U.S. soccer fan, you should remember this guy. He's played for the Mexican national team in so many big match against the U.S. At 38-years of age, this guy still hasn't missed a beat. Every match whether it's a preseason match or a Primera Division match, the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores, etc. He's got one thing on his mind and that is to keep his team in matches. No mistakes here for the Sounders, they need to test him early. For a guy at such a high caliber, make him work early in the match and put your opponents under a lot of pressure.

Oribe Peralta - Now this team had a bit of a blow losing striker Carlos Quintero to a thigh injury, but let's not forget about Peralta. Normally, he would play midfield and score around five to seven goals in a season, but this year, he is absolutely killing it. This season, he is leading his team in goals scored, including four goals in this years Champions League campaign. So this was an easy pick right here as one of the players to watch. Quintero would've been a threat in this series, but I see Peralta as a much bigger threat to the Sounders back line. The centerbacks better be ready because if they get caught napping, he's going to make them pay.

Seattle Sounders FC:

Adam Johansson - Here's another easy one, our new right back. Not that James Riley was bad during his tenure at right back with the Sounders, but Johansson is much better defensively in that position. He can also provide a good attacking option for the Sounders. In the last preseason match, he made a lot of good attacking runs, his passing has been good, he assisted on the first goal and defensively with his speed, he can shut down the wide midfield players/wingers. I like his quickness getting up and down the pitch. That's what he did all preseason and that's basically what the Sounders have been searching for during the offseason. Now he just needs to continue that trend here in the Champions League all the way through the MLS season.

Fredy Montero - There are games where this guy struggles but Seattle still ends up winning those games, but in this one, I personally think Montero needs to have a good game from start to finish and that goes for the 2nd leg down in Mexico on March 14th. As good as he's been here in Seattle, there have been times when he's made some silly mistakes. If Montero can limit the mistakes and pick up where he left off late in the 2011 season, then I think Seattle would have a better shot a pulling off the victory in the series.

Again, Santos will be without Carlos Quintero for at least the first leg of this series. Some reports are saying he'll be out for about three weeks which would mean he would miss the second leg as well. With him out, I'm expecting Herculez Gomez, who played for the Sounders when they were a USL club in 2003, to get the start up front alongside Oribe Peralta. However, they also have Ecuadorian international Cristian Suarez who they can put up front as well.

The Sounders starting 11 will have three new faces. One of the three of course is our new goalkeeper Michael Gspurning, who has had a solid career and will be our starting goalkeeper for a long time. Then you have Eddie Johnson partnering up front with Fredy Montero. Again, people have been bitching about the Sounders acquiring him for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle and seriously, they all need to shut the hell up because we all know Johnson is going to proove them wrong this season and Sigi Schmid did have a legit reason for acqiring Johnson. And of course it's great to have Mauro Rosales back after a late season injury last season that ruled him out for at least the RSL series, but that ended up hurting us because we were missing the veteran presence, the leadership, everything that he brought, we had to try to make it through without him and unfortunately we were unsuccessful.

All in all, I'm really excited about the match on Wednesday, it's going to be a great game but more importantly, I'm really excited about the new season. This team is ready to compete with the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake for the West. The fans are gonna arrive in full voice every game and proove, just as always, that Seattle is the #1 Soccer City in America. It's going to be an exciting year and I'll be talking more about that within the next few days.