Seattle Sounders beat Santa Tecla in CCL with second-half onslaught

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:33 am

Santa Tecla FC forward Ricardinho, center, battles for the ball with two Seattle Sounders players in the CCL.
Santa Tecla FC forward Ricardinho, center, battles for the ball with two Seattle Sounders players in the CCL.
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Will Bruin scored in the opening moments of the second half, Nicolas Lodeiro added another, and the Seattle Sounders rolled past El Salvador's Santa Tecla 4-0 on Thursday night in the CONCACAF Champions League round of 16.

Chad Marshall and Magnus Wolff Eikrem both added goals in the closing minutes as Seattle overcame a 2-1 deficit from the first leg to advance to the quarterfinals 5-2 on aggregate. 

"It was a big ask for Santa Tecla to come here and try and get another result," Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. "Our quality showed through tonight."

Seattle will face Mexican power Chivas Guadalajara in the quarterfinals and host the first leg on Wednesday, before traveling to Mexico a week later. Seattle has reached the semifinals of the tournament once in its previous four appearances.

Seattle needed a goal to advance but struggled to break through in the first half against Santa Tecla and had limited scoring chances. But the Sounders used a different formation with two forwards in the second half and it paid off almost immediately.

Shortly after halftime, Lodeiro found Bruin, who beat Santa Tecla goalkeeper Joel Almeida to get Seattle on the board and put the Sounders in position to advance on away goals.

"We knew that once we got that first goal, we could get two, three or four and open up the game," Bruin said. "It took the first half, but Schmetzer was saying that if we don't score in the first half or early, just to keep possession, our chances were going to come, and they did."

Lodeiro then put Seattle in control by flicking a header past Almeida following a cross from Clint Dempsey in the 69th minute.

Marshall headed home a third in the 81st minute, before Eikrem, who provided a huge impact in his Sounders debut after coming on at halftime, slotted home a fourth two minutes later following a one-two with Dempsey.

"When Magnus came on, he's so calm and composed on the ball," Bruin said. "He picks out great passes and when he's on the ball we know he's going to get a pass going forward. So it was good to get some minutes with him."

The Sounders open the MLS regular season on Sunday hosting expansion LAFC.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.