By John Zielonka

Seattle entered the second leg of their two-game aggregate-goals CONCACAF Champions league encounter against Tigres UNAL down 1-0. The Sounders utilized three second half highlight reel goals from DeAndre Yedlin, Djimi Traore and Eddie Johnson to win 3-2 on aggregate. Elias Hernandez had the lone tally for the visiting Tigres.

Djimi Traore (mlssoccer.com)

Referee Elmer Bonilla's decision to send off the Tigres' Manuel Viniegra was the biggest factor in Sounders' victory. He ejected Viniegra after whistling him for his second caution in the 45th minute of play. The Mexican team played down one man the entire second half.

Both teams felt the ejection by Bonilla played a major role in Seattle's historic win. The Sounders became only the third MLS team to get to the Champions League semifinal round.

The ejection of Elias Hernandez

"He (Bonilla) allowed the opposing team to be too aggressive against us. He let go many of those fouls that should've been punished. I don't want to take away anything from Seattle's victory. They didn't need this kind of help, but playing against 12 is harder than usual."--Ricardo Ferretti, Tigres head coach

"The red card hurt us. Obviously we were down a man over half of the game. I think we were working hard to take the lead, but hey were attacking with numbers. It was tough to hold them off, we were on our heels, and they got those three goals, two really amazing goals so you have to tip your hat to that, but it's just unfortunate that we had to get that red card in the way that we got it."--Jonathan Bornstein, Tigres midfielder

Goals by DeAndre Yedlin and Djimi Traore

"Obviously DeAndre's goal was fairly early in the half...it was about 10 minutes in. that I think helped turn it for us, and then Djimi's goal was such a fantastic goal. That's the type of goal that gives a shot of adrenaline to everyone on the field." Sigi Schmid, Sounders FC head coach

"I saw the ball floating up and I just tried to get the right timing on it. Luckily I got a good hit and it took a deflection and went in."--DeAndre Yedlin, Sounders FC defender

"When I saw the space in front of me and I saw nobody coming to close me down. I tried and it worked. If you never try then you are never going to score goals."--Djimi Traore, Sounders FC defender

They said it:

"I think that it was a great soccer night. When we went into the locker room Sigi said that we are not playing like us, and we knew that. We knew that we needed a quick first goal and we knew it was possible. When Tigres made the mistake of getting the second yellow card they gave us a chance we never would have had. When they gave us that chance we took care of the rest."--Michael Gspurning, Sounders FC Goalkeeper

"I have plenty of confidence in my whole team and all the different members I have on my roster. The proof of that is that during the game before the red card expulsion, we were playing well, we were winning 1-0 and we had an opportunity for 2-0, but something like a red card changes everything. We know that Seattle is a very strong team and 11 against 11, it was going to be a difficult game. But 11 against 12, it becomes even more complicated so that's what happened."--Ricardo Ferretti

"We came out and played and took risks. We were down 2-0 and really had nothing to lose. We just went out there to make the most of our chances. We had some chances in the first half and the first half wasn't our best, but we still had chances to put ourselves back in the game. But when you score two goals like that, the way (DeAndre) Yedlin scored and (Djimi) Traore scored, you feed off that energy and we had the momentum. [Tigres] going down a man really helped us out."--Eddie Johnson, Sounders FC forward