SEATTLE — Andy Rose scored a goal and had a pair of assists to lead the Seattle Sounders to a 3-1 win over Caledonia AIA at CenturyLink Field in CONCACAF Champions League group-stage play on Thursday.
The Sounders, who thoroughly dominated the match from start to finish, also got first-half goals from Sammy Ochoa and Fredy Montero.
Rose’s contributions weren’t all necessarily pretty, but they were absolutely effective. The rookie midfielder helped open the scoring in the 19th minute, when he flubbed a shot that came off a nice feed from Alex Caskey. The ball, though, went right to Ochoa, who was waiting on the doorstep to finish off his fourth goal in all competitions this year.
Rose notched his second assist of the night just minutes later to help Seattle take a 2-0 lead half an hour into the match. After Cordell Cato used his speed to get the Caledonia defense on its heels, he passed it to Rose. One touch later, Rose fed Montero, who one-timed it inside a wide open far post. Montero now has eight goals across all competitions this season.
Rose rounded out his Man-of-the-Match performance two minutes before the halftime whistle, scoring in odd fashion to give Seattle a comfortable 3-0 lead before halftime. Rose was the first player to a rebound off a Montero shot, but had to fight off a tackle from Ochoa — who also scrambled to reach the ball first — to get his fourth goal in all competitions this year.
Despite the Sounders’ first-half dominance, Caledonia did manage to make it interesting in the second half. Shortly after the break, Caledonia were awarded the penalty when Jhon-Kennedy Hurtado took down Jamal Gay in the penalty area. Kareem Joseph stepped up to the spot and buried the PK in the 50th minute to score the Trinidadian club's first goal ever in Champions League play and cut the deficit to 3-1.
OPTA CHALKBOARD: Sounders thoroughly control match vs. Caledonia
Caledonia were able to create several more chances, but never managed to get any closer.
The victory puts Seattle atop Group 4 with three points. They resume CCL play on August 30, when they travel to Trinidad and Tobago to take on Caledonia.
The Sounders' next MLS match will be a home tilt against the LA Galaxy on Sunday (9 pm ET, ESPN2).
