[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The Columbus Crew cruised to its second win in three games in the Concacaf Champions League with a 3-0 victory over winless JoePublic of Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday night, while the Seattle Sounders remained pointless, falling for the third straight time with a 2-0 loss at Costa Rica’s Saprissa.
FrenchmanLeandre Griffit and Jason Garey broke the game open with goals in the first six minutes of the second half, and subDilly Duka fed another late replacement, Steven Lenhart, for the third goal in the 79th minute.
On theother hand, everything went wrong for the Sounders in their second half at the Saprissa Stadium, where American teams have always struggled.
DavidGuzman and Allan Aleman broke a scoreless deadlock with goals for Saprissa, while Fausto Gonzalez saved whatwould have been a tying penalty kick by Alvaro Fernandez.
The Sounders had Costa Rican Leonardo Gonzalez,who is from San Jose, sent off for a straight red card for a foul on Saprissa’s Jairo Arrieta late in the first half.
Columbus is in second placein Group B and can take the lead with a win over Santos of Mexico at Crew Stadium next Tuesday.
Seattle is again on the road next Wednesday and must play at Monterrey of Mexico, which haswon all three games in Group C.
Sept. 14 in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus Crew 3 Joe Public 0. Goals: Griffit47, Garey 51, Lenhart 79.
Columbus Crew — Gruenebaum, Oughton, Brunner, Marshall (Iro, 79), Francis, Moffat, Ekpo (Duka, 61), Griffit, Burns, Garey,Mendoza (Lenhart, 65).
Joe Public — Phillip, Goodridge, Daniel, Mitchell (Moses, 85), Hislop (Moses, 79), Tinto, Lewis (Manswell, 74), Hoshide (Williams,80), Gregory, Joseph, Baptiste.
Referee: Walter Lopez (Guatemala).
Att.: 5,445
Saprissa 2 Seattle Sounders 0. Goals: Guzman 56, Aleman 82.
Saprissa — F.Gonzalez, Badilla, Cordero, Blanco, Martinez (Mena, 46), Centeno, Lopez (Guzman, 73), Paniagua, Sirias, A.Alonso (Aleman, 63), Arrieta.
Seattle Sounders — Boss, Scott, Marshall, Graham, L.Gonzalez, Nyassi, O.Alonso, Sturgis (Fernandez, 64), Zakuani (Wahl, 46) , Montero, Levesque (Fucito, 72).
Referee: Marco Rodriguez (France).