There's something about CONCACAF Champions League that agrees with Sammy Ochoa. For a fourth straight game, the Seattle Sounders forward scored a goal. This time, it helped lead the Sounders to a 3-1 win over Marathon on Wednesday, completing a perfect group stage run.
Sounders vs. Marathon: Seattle completes perfect group stage run
Behind Sammy Ochoa’s fourth goal of the season and the return of Marcus Hahnemann, the Sounders down Marathon 3-1 to improve to 4-0-0 in CCL group stage play.
Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE
The Sounders secured the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals and will play one of the Houston Dynamo, Tigres UNAL or the LA Galaxy. If the standings stay the way they are right now, the Sounders would play the Dynamo in early March.
No player is more responsible for them being in this position than Ochoa, who is the second leading scorer in the 2012-13 CCL. His goal in this one came in the 23rd minute, nicely finishing a cross from Mario Martinez. Four minutes later, Steve Zakuani made it 2-0 when he took a through ball from Jeff Parke and pounded it past the goalkeeper.
Although Marathon was able to cut the lead in half on a goal by Mitchel Brown, the Sounders' lead was never in much danger. David Estrada ended any drama when he scored in the 75th minute.
The game also marked the competitive return of Marcus Hahnemann. The former U.S. international made four saves, none of them bigger than the 66th minute stop he made on Brown's shot from about 10 yards out.
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