The Sounders Blast Past San Francisco FC

After a fairly even first leg in which a lone penalty kick in San Francisco's favor was the deciding factor, the Sounders entered tonights second leg of the CCL group stage qualifier with their backs against the wall. And considering the circumstances, they responded to the situation excellently. The Sounders absolutely dominated the run of play, and despite that domination it took them until late in the first half (41st minute) to tally their first goal. Fredy Montero rolled the ball into the corner of the box for Gonzalez who made an overlapping run, who crossed it to a waiting Alvaro Fernandez who headed the ball home.

The domination continued through the second half, the Sounders just hammering away shot after shot at San Francisco's goal. To the Sounders misfortune, however, the match had to move into extra time for them to find the clinching goal. In the ninety eighth minute Alvaro Fernandez found his way up the left side of the field, crossing the ball to a completely open Nate Jaqua who had all the time in the world to hammer the ball into the roof of the net. With the clinching goal in hand you would probably have thought the Sounders would do as much possible to drain time off of the clock, but they kept pushing for another goal. The referee blew the whistle straight on the one hundred and twenty minute mark, sending the Sounders on their way into Group D along with last tournament's champions Monterrey.

Notes

• The Sounders ultimately outshot San Francisco an amazing 34-9
• Two of the league's best fell to lesser competition tonight, Real Salt Lake dropping a second game at a 2-0 scoreline in a row to Sporting Kansas City and the Portland Timbers dominating the LA Galaxy 3-0
• Both other MLS teams playing in the qualification round of the CCL, Toronto FC and FC Dallas, also made their way into the group stage