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Sounders let lead slip away in opening-leg loss vs. Santa Tecla

The Seattle Sounders were sitting pretty through more than 60 minutes. Then, disaster struck.

First in the shape of Gerson Mayen, then via a worrisome injury.

The Sounders wasted a lead and suffered a 2-1 road defeat to Santa Tecla on Thursday in the opening leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 series. Seattle was on its way to victory at Estadio Las Delicias in Santa Tecla, El Salvador, through an early and sublime long-distance goal from Nicolas Lodeiro, but the host team responded through a Mayen brace to deny the MLS outfit of a win in its first competitive game of the year.

The American-born El Salvador international began the comeback for Santa Tecla in the 67th minute, finishing from close range after the Sounders failed to properly deal with a cross. He struck again for the go-ahead goal nine minutes later by firing a penalty kick into the back of the net.

If that was not bad enough, the Sounders had to finish the match with 10 men after Jordan Morris exited with an injury in the 84th minute. Seattle had used all of its substitutions when he picked up the knock and could not replace him.

Whether he is available for the return leg is currently unknown. Nonetheless, the Sounders will be looking to overturn this series when they host the decisive fixture on March 1 at CenturyLink Field.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Gerson Mayen will not soon forget this performance. The former Chivas USA player — yes, you read that correctly — sparked Santa Tecla’s second-half rally to victory with a clutch brace, first by tucking a shot away from in close and then by converting on a penalty kick. Things were not looking good for Santa Tecla midway through the closing stanza on Thursday, but Mayen’s heroic performance gave the club the advantage heading into next week’s second leg in Seattle.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Referee Melvin Matomoros’ decision to award the game-winning penalty kick will surely be a topic of debate, but it was the correct call because Jordan McCrary made contact with Wilma Torres in the the penalty area. The foul gave Santa Tecla a grand opportunity to complete its comeback at home, and Mayen made no mistake on his well-taken attempt from 12 yards out.

MATCH TO FORGET

Chad Marshall was not poor throughout the entire 90 minutes, but he was involved in both of Santa Tecla’s goals. The veteran centerback was one of two Sounders players that did not properly deal with the cross that led to Mayen’s equalizer — Marshall failed to stand his ground and was taken out of the play with some contact — and it was Marshall who chose to try and win a 50-50 aerial ball in the 18-yard box with a weak header. Marshall could have jumped to try and get more power on the attempted clearance, but all he did was nod it a few feet and that allowed Torres to try and chase it down before getting clipped by McCrary.

Comments

  1. The best in MLS are on par with the best from El Salvador…a nice little reminder of how poor the quality of football is in MLS, chest-thumping by Graber, ‘Murica, and all…MLS is terrible, light years away even from mediocrity.

    Reply
      • Quite a few of them do, actually…the spring in a bunch of central and northem European countries doesn’t start until late February, and the playoffs in CL and EL are already in full swing…you just deal with it…

    • Let’s not make such strong conclusions from 3 away games in February. MLS is way ahead of all leagues in the region except Mexico. Yes, on any given day (especially in February) a top team from those top-heavy leagues can beat us…

      Reply
  2. Teams in the CCL tournament are …….
    Santa Tecla FC from, El Salvador.
    CD Olimpia from Honduras
    Tauro FC from Panama
    …..and MLS teams are struggling and losing. What gives??? Before I thought it was salary cap that was affecting the quality of our league but now I think we just lack the talent from both the players and coaching staff. when you look at teams from El Salvador, Olimpia, Tauro FC etc. then the writing is on the wall…..we are just not good enough.

    Reply
  3. Sadly, Mr Morris is not a serious pro soccer player. He has much natural talent. However, his approach to being a pro athlete is amateurish. It is not enough to have natural abilities one must train well also. Injuries most often are the result of poor preparation for a job that demand peak phisical conditioning.

    Reply
    • You know he is not training properly?

      I had heard otherwise by people in the know. But people are wrong sometimes.

      Is it you or them that are wrong?

      Reply

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