Posted on August 30, 2012
COUVA, Trinidad – The Seattle Sounders found themselves in thd drivers seat of Group 4 behind a 3-1 victory over Caledonia AIA in the CONCACAF Champions League on Thursday night.
Alex Caskey and Fredy Montero led the way for Seattle (2-0-0, six points) with a goal and an assist each while the Trinidad & Tobago side fell to 0-2-1 with only one point. In fact, Seattle recorded a 3-1 win at home against its rivals on Aug. 2.
“Getting six points was important to us because now we’ve put ourselves in a position where we need to win just one of our last two games,” Sounders coach Sigi Schmid told www.soundersfc.com. “We’ve got one game at home and we’ve always said winning games at home is the key … but now we know if we win one of our last two then we win the group. It was a position we wanted to be in at the end of today.”
The visitors grabbed the lead on Caskey’s score in the 45th minute. Zach Scott slid to win Sammy Ochoa’s cross. He pushed the ball in front of the net, where Caskey tallied from seven yards.
“The longer it goes zero-zero, the more dangerous it gets to give up a lead and then have to come back,” Caskey told the team website. “Especially right before half it was important for us to go in with a lead.”
The Sounders made it 2-0 in the 60th minute when Montero found Ochoa, who sent an 17-yard shot into the upper corner of the net past goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel. It was his second goal in as many CCL matches.
Seven minutes later, Caledonia AIA pulled within a goal as Kareem Joseph converted a penalty kick after Puerto Rican referee Javier Santos ruled Scott pulled down Jamal Gay in the penalty area.
But two minutes later Montero lifted the Sounders to a two-goal advantage, tapping in a Caskey cross from the edge of the six-yard box. Montero, who recently hit a hat-trick in a 6-2 victory over Chivas USA in Major League Soccer action, has scored in five consecutive games in all competitions.
The Sounders will travel to San Pedro Sula, Honduras to face Marathon in its next CCL encounter on Sept. 19. Caledonia also will meet Marathon in Honduras on Sept. 26.
Photo: Seattle coach Sigi Schmid had to be happy with his team’s road performance. Andy Mead/YCJ
Categories: Caribbean, Champions League, North America, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S.A.
Tags: Alex Caskey, Caledonia AIA, Chivas USA, CONCACAF Champions League, Fredy Montero, Major League Soccer, Sammy Ochoa, Seattle Sounders
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