Seattle Sounders FC's CONCACAF Champions League group run got off to a bad start on Thursday night after Seattle fell 2:1 in Honduras to CD Marathon. The foe is considered by most to be the weakest of the sides Seattle will face in the group, and certainly the Sounders will feel at the end of the day that a win or a draw was possible with better possession and finishing.
Roger Levesque gave Seattle a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute but Marathon replied with a 27th-minute equalizer from Orvin Paz at the edge of the area.
Nicolas Cardozo scored from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time.
The victory gives Marathon three points in Group C, along with Mexican club Monterrey, which beat Costa Rica's Saprissa 1-0.
Chris Coulter is making a quick arrive-leave trip to Honduras, and has already sent us some early photos from the journey. Here is a second gallery from Coulter.
Scoring Summary:
SEA - Roger Levesque (Blaise Nkufo, Fredy Montero) 17
MAR - Orvin Paz (Randy Diamond) 27
MAR - Nicolas Cardozo (penalty kick) 45+
CD Marathón - Shane Orio, Astor Henriquez, Adolfo Machado, Erick Norales, Nicolas Cardozo, Hector Amarilla (Rony Flores 45), Randy Diamond (Carlos Will Mejia 69), Orvin Paz, Carlos Palacios, Milton Palacios (Luis Santamaria 77), Mario Berrios.
Substitutes Not Used:Nahun Avila, Fernando Castillo, Mario Cesar Rodriguez, Orlin Vallecillo.
TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 16; OFFSIDES: 5; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 6.
Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller, James Riley, Tyrone Marshall, Jeff Parke, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez (Michael Seamon 69), Osvaldo Alonso, Nathan Sturgis, Roger Levesque (David Estrada 87), Blaise Nkufo (Nate Jaqua 64), Fredy Montero.
Substitutes Not Used: Patrick Ianni, Terry Boss, Tyson Wahl, Mike Fucito.
TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 4.
Misconduct Summary:
SEA - Tyrone Marshall 43'
MAR - Mario Berrios 49'
SEA - Leo Gonzalez 62'
Referee: Juan Carlos Guerra
Referee's Assistants: Hermenerito Leal; Ariel Mendez
4th Official: Jose Molina
Time of Game: 1:50
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
Sounders FC Postgame Quotes
Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening Statement . . .) "We gave up two goals. The penalty I thought was a harsh call but it is what it is. In the second half I thought we pretty much had control of the game, dominated more of it, had four or five good chances in the second half. But obviously didn't score, hit the post a couple of times. So we are disappointed that we didn't come out with a point."
(On the goal . . .) "[Blaise] Nkufo got a touch on the ball that [Fredy] Montero knocked across. It was a great goal. Roger [Levesque] had another chance to score and change the course of the game. We need to do a better job when we are up by one."
(On moving forward from this match . . .) "We will take a look at what we did well and what we didn't do well. Their side obviously did their job."
(On the team's effort . . .) "I think our effort in the game, we didn't do well in the outset with [Carlos] Palacios on the one side and [Randy] Diamond on the other side. I think we were disjointed offensively. The last 20 minutes, 25 minutes of the game I thought we had very good energy. In the beginning of the game we didn't have good energy and we didn't see an awful lot of the ball. If you want to see the ball a lot you need to play hard. We need to be better next time."
(On team playing better from behind . . .) "In the first half, even when we got the goal in the first 20 minutes, we weren't doing well. We weren't focused. But I thought in the second half we made some good adjustments and I thought were able to sustain some pressure. The surface slowed the ball down a little bit for us. Our forwards dropped off a little too much. That was definitely an issue for us."
Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On the game . . .) "We score goals and we are fine. When we don't, people beat us. It's frustrating. You figure, three points is three points. You get three at home, you get a couple draws. It's just disappointing. We thought we had changed it already but our energy in the first 20 minutes was a bit more selective. We have got to get more pressure on them. We all learn from experiences. It's a long trip. It's hot, humid, we are on a very slow pitch and we just couldn't figure it out. We have got five more games left in this competition and there's nothing to fear playing these teams. We can line up with these teams quite comfortably."
(On the penalty . . .) "The ball came over the top and it took a bad bounce. I didn't expect it to bounce that way. I called for Tyrone [Marshall] to head it to me but it didn't get there. I don't know how it was a penalty. I haven't seen the tape but it didn't look like a penalty to me. It looked like two guys swing and kick each others' legs and next thing you know the ball is in my hands and he [the referee] is signaling a foul. I don't know what he saw. It may have been good play by the striker but I don't know. That was frustrating. [. . .] But we had multiple chances at the end of the game to get something out of this. Once again, usually you would put in nine of 10 of them but it was just one of those days when it just wasn't going to happen. And that was probably the most frustrating. We know we were better and we should have done better."
Roger Levesque - Sounders FC Midfielder/Forward
(On his goal . . .) "[Fredy] Montero came down the right side and got the ball across. Blaise [Nkufo] dropped the ball off [. . .] and I was able to get the ball into the back post. [. . .]"
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