Wednesday, July 27, 2011

CONCACAF Champions League Prelim: San Francisco FC vs. Seattle Sounders

Well, there's really not a ton to say about this match. CONCACAF Champions League presents several challenges, one of them being extreme travel, which the Sounders had to deal with in this one.

Still, the Sounders were the better team all night. I think anybody would have a tough time making the case that San Francisco outplayed them. However the one big defensive miscue cost Seattle dearly. Confident in their possession out of the back, San Francisco stole a lazy pass, then went into the 18, where the Sounders were whistled for a handball in the box. Roberto Brown converted the PK and put San Francisco up 1-0 at the half.

Seattle had a few nice chances in the second half, but just couldn't get the ball in the back of the net. Pat Noonan put a header off the post in the 85th minute, but in the end, this match only had four shots on goal, 3 of them went to San Francisco.

Still, Seattle isn't in too bad of a shape coming home. They'll need to convert their chances and they'll need to keep San Francisco out of the back of the net to avoid the away goals rule. It's certainly doable, but watch out for the Panama side making the match a dive fest like Arabe Unido did at Rio Tinto last season.

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