Santos Laguna's forward corps of Christian Suarez, Herculez Gomez and Oribe Peralta had a banner night, as they combined for five goals to defeat the Seattle Sounders 6-1 in the return leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals tie.
Santos Laguna Vs. Seattle Sounders, 2012 CONCACAF Champions League: Santos Crush Sounders 6-1 to Advance
Suarez and Gomez each had a brace, while Peralta added a goal and an assist. Substitute forward Carlos Ochoa added a late goal to cap off the night for Los Guerreros. Following a tight 165 minutes of play in this tie, with the teams tied 3-3 on the aggregate score at the half tonight, Santos piled on four goals in the second half to advance in emphatic fashion.
Suarez opened the scoring in the eighth minute, and Peralta followed up with another goal in the 10th minute on a difficult individual move in the box. Seattle got back into the match with a goal by Alvaro Fernandez in the 37th minute on a great cross from Fredy Montero, and Seattle headed into the break with some momentum.
But Santos fully took over the match in the second half. Seattle had a goalmouth scramble in Santos’ end, but Santos cleared and began a counterattack that led to Gomez’s first goal on the night, in the 49th minute, an emphatic shot that looked easy.
Seattle tried to battle back for about 20 minutes after that, but Gomez got his second in the 68th minute. Jorge Estrada made an outlet pass in midfield to Peralta, who passed the ball over to Gomez in a two-on-one breakaway, and Gomez scored another seemingly easy goal. He was injured on the play, however, when Seattle full back Adam Johansson pushed Gomez from behind on the goal and Gomez cut up his knee. Considering his form of five goals in just the last three games, Santos will hope Gomez was not seriously injured.
Suarez made it 5-1 and bagged his second of the night on another nice pass from Estrada in the 77th minute. Ochoa finished off the scoring in the 81st. All in all, the second half really demonstrated the defensive frailties of Seattle. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado had a very poor game throughout, and the Sounders did not look capable of dealing with a counterattack whatsoever. Although Michael Gspurning did not make any blunders, the result may weigh on him if cannot put it out of mind quickly. Although Seattle was optimistic they could beat a very good Santos team, the home team ultimately ran riot, and they will be a very dangerous team in the CCL semifinals.
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