Tie puts Sounders into Champions League quarters
Alonso’s 2nd goal of night comes at 89:00
Sounders FC midfielder Osvaldo Alonso scored twice, including a dramatic equalizer in the 89th minute, to give visiting Seattle a 2-2 tie Tuesday against CSD Comunicaciones Guatemala in a CONCACAF Champions League group-stage soccer match.
The result was good enough to qualify the Sounders (3-1-1) into the CCL quarterfinals, which begin in March.
Seattle can finish first in CCL’s Group D with a win or tie in its final group-stage game on Oct. 18 at CenturyLink Field against defending champion Monterrey of Mexico (3-2).
In the driving rain at Estadio Cemetos Progreso in Guatemala City, Alonso rescued the Sounders from defeat with only minutes to spare.
A defensive midfielder with only three goals this season coming into the game, Alonso drilled a close-range shot from in front of the net for the tying goal.
The chance was set up when a pass by forward Sammy Ochoa toward Fredy Montero was cleared in the direction of a wide-open Alonso.
Comunicaciones (2-2-1) had broken a 1-1 tie in the 64th minute off a goal by Rafael Morales. The chance was created when Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller failed to punch clear a corner kick and Morales punished the mistake.
Seattle immediately pressed hard for the equalizer.
First, Alonso was off target with a shot in the 67th minute. Five minutes later a shot by midfielder Lamar Neagle, a Federal Way, Wash., native, was hit right at goalkeeper Juan Paredes.
Montero then had two sparkling chances to tie the game. He headed an open shot wide in the 82nd minute, and then two minutes later his shot from outside the penalty box was denied by the crossbar, and midfielder Alvaro Fernandez couldn’t direct his rebound chance on goal.
Comunicaciones opened the scoring in the seventh minute, when a pass by midfielder Carlos Mejia set up a breakaway for forward Transito Montepeque. Keller came off his line to defend the attack, but Montepeque calmly chipped a shot from outside the penalty box that glanced off the underside of the crossbar and then went in.
Seattle tied the score just before halftime, when Alonso fired an open shot from 17 yards that deflected off a Comunicaciones defender past Paredes