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Mexican Primera Round-Up: Eight Teams Ready For Liguilla
The concluding week of regular season of the Torneo Apertura 2008 defined the eight teams that will fight for the title. San Luis, Toluca, Atlante, Pumas, Cruz Azul, Tigres, Tecos and Santos, are the teams invited to the Liguilla.
Nov 16, 2008 9:45:40 PM
Saturday, 15 November, 2008
Tecos 3 - 0 Puebla
Cruz Azul 4 - 1 Jaguares
Monterrey 1 - 0 Pumas
Pachuca 1 - 1 Atlas
Chivas 2 - 0 Indios
Sunday, 16 November, 2008
Morelia 1 - 2 Tigres
Toluca 1 - 0 San Luis
Necaxa 2 - 0 América
Santos 0 - 0 Atlante
Final Group Positions
(*Teams advanced to playoff phase)
| Group 1 | Pts. | Group 2 | Pts. | Group 3 | Pts. |
| Atlante | 27 | Pumas | 26 | San Luis | 29 |
| Santos | 22 | Cruz Azul | 26 | Toluca | 27 |
| Pachuca | 21 | Tecos | 25 | Tigres | 26 |
| Indios | 19 | Chivas | 25 | Atlas | 22 |
| Monterrey | 19 | Morelia | 24 | Jaguares | 18 |
| Puebla | 15 | América | 21 | Necaxa | 17 |
Tecos 3 - 0 Puebla
The last week of action kicked-off with an important victory for Tecos, who defeated last-place Puebla and brought an end to a four week negative streak.
With the defeats to Morelia and Chivas, the Zapopan side guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals.
It took awhile for the Tecolotes to display the confidence of previous weeks, and in the early minutes of the match they could have been pushed against the wall if Puebla had been more effective with their opportunities.
In the 22 minute, Tecos reacted when Rafael Medina perfectly crossed the ball to defender Daniel Alcántar, who skillfully shot the ball past Puebla goalkeeper Jorge Villalpando for the 1-0 lead.
The first goal of the match proved vital to Miguel Herrera’s men, who soon began to show an improved demeanor and took control of the match.
Alcántar would participate in the second goal of the match when he centered the ball to Paraguayan forward Fredy Bareiro, who perfectly headed it in for the 2-0 score in the 31 minute.
Eight minutes from full-time, Robert de Pinho scored the definitive 3-0 score which guaranteed the victory and gives Tecos a chance to play for the title.
With the victory, Tecos moved up to the third spot of Group 2 and seventh overall with 25 points.
The Camoteros of Puebla headed into this match already eliminated, and at the bottom of the first group and the relegation percentage table. The defeat sent them to the last-place of classification with a mere 15 points and severely compromised them in relegation for the following season.
Cruz Azul 4 - 1 Jaguares
La Máquina regained the trust of their faithful and earned a playoff ticket with a 4-1 home thrashing of Jaguares.
Paraguayan forward, Pablo Zeballos, had an inspired performance with a hat-trick in the 11, 33 from a penalty, and 45 minutes, to increase his tally to six goals in the season, while Miguel Sabah, also converted a penalty shot in the 18 minute for the Cementeros poker.
On the other hand, the Chiapas side displayed little reaction and interest having already been eliminated from the competition.
The lone bright spot was Adolfo ‘Bofo’ Bautista, who scored his ninth goal of the season in the 42 minute, for the third spot in the scoring table and the highest for a Mexican.
With this result, the Cementeros guaranteed the second the spot of Group 2 and the fifth overall with 26 points.
Jaguares had no qualification possibilities and finished the Torneo in the fifth spot of the third group with 18 points.
Monterrey 1 - 0 Pumas
Rayados ended their season with a victory in front of their home crowd against already qualified Pumas.
The Nuevo León side showed determination for the victory since the start.
In the sixth minute took an early lead thanks to a free-kick goal by Chilean forward Humberto Suazo, which benefited from a deflection by Pumas defenders.
Pumas had the possibility to take over the top spot in classification and reacted, but could not take control of the midfield and generated few dangerous opportunities.
The result did little to affect final positions, as Pumas failed to take over the superlider spot but kept the top position in the second group and fourth overall with 26 points.
For Rayados, this victory provides slight satisfaction to their faithful after a miserable season without Liguilla. Monterrey finished the season in the fourth spot of Group 1 with 19 points.
Pachuca 1 - 1 Atlas
The earlier Saturday fixtures had left Atlas virtually eliminated and in need of a miracle to advance, while Pachuca’s possibilities depended on the result from the Santos-Atlante match on Sunday.
Still, Pachuca could not deal with a 10-man Atlas and had to settle with a 1-1 draw in an entertaining match.
In the 58 minute, Argentine forward Christian Giménez scored one of the best goals of the week with a skillful chip over Atlas goalkeeper Jorge Bava, for the 1-0 Pachuca lead.
Despite an expulsion for 16-year old Atlas prodigy, César Ibáñez, the Rojinegros continued to prove dangerous on the attack.
After a dangerous run, Paraguayan Jorge Achucarro brilliantly served the ball to a completely open Atlas captain, Darío Botinelli, who sent a powerful shot past goalkeeper Miguel Calero in the 68 minute for the definitive 1-1 draw.
With this result and the Santos draw on Sunday, the Tuzos did not advance to the Liguilla and finished the campaign with 21 points in the first group.
The Zorros ended the Torneo Apertura in the fourth spot of the third sector with 22 points.
Chivas 2 - 0 Indios
Guadalajara recovered from two straight defeats last week with an important 2-0 home victory against Indios.
The first goal came in the 29 minute, after a splendid individual run by Sergio Santana, who heel passed the ball to Fabián de la Mora for the 1-0 lead.
In the second half, Alberto Medina doubled the score in the 65 minute for the final 2-0 score.
Despite the victory, Chivas depended on Morelia and Toluca defeats on Sunday for their qualification.
A combination which was not given and resulted in the elimination of the Rebaño Sagrado, who ended in the fourth spot of Group 2 with 25 units.
For their part, Indios were left out of any possibility to advance with 19 points in the fourth spot of the first group.
In a positive note for the bordertown side, they avoided the last spot in the relegation percentage table.
Morelia 1 - 2 Tigres
In an intense and hard fought match, Tigres qualified to the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over Morelia, who failed to advance.
Monarcas did not take advantage of finishing off the regular season at home, since they only needed a draw to qualify.
For their part, Tigres needed a victory at all costs to assure a quarterfinal participation and they accomplished it thanks to the effectiveness of midfielder Guillermo Marino, whose brace in the second and 55 minute sealed the deal.
Brazilian Wilson Tiago momentarily tied the match for Morelia in the 22 minute.
With this result, Tigres earned their ticket to the Liguilla in the third spot of Group 3 and sixth overall with 26 points.
After an impressive turnaround in the season, Morelia were eliminated from the competition. Monarcas finished the campaign in the fifth spot of the second sector with 24 points.
Toluca 1 - 0 San Luis
The Diablos Rojos qualified to the quarterfinals thanks to a ‘Sinha’ wondergoal in the victory against superlider San Luis.
In the 25 minute, the Gladiadores had a chance to open the score when they were rewarded a penalty, but Uruguayan forward Víctor Píriz sent his shot to the crossbar to momentarily preserve the scoreless draw.
A few minutes later in the 32 minute, Antonio Naelson ‘Sinha’ capitalized a brilliant individual play to score the definitive goal of the match for the 1-0 Toluca victory.
With this victory, Toluca advanced to the Liguilla as the second spot of Group 3 and third overall with 27 points.
In turn, San Luis finished as the overall leader of the competition with 29 points in the third group.
Necaxa 2 - 0 América
After an unthinkable start to the campaign, the Rayos defeated “older brother” América for their fourth unbeaten match and brought an end to their season with dignity.
This was the first home victory for the Aguascalientes side in the Torneo Apertura 2008 and their second in a row. Necaxa had demonstrated a resurgence in the last weeks of the campaign, too late for any playoff hopes but enough to abandon the bottom of classification.
In the third minute, Argentine playmaker Walter Gaitán, scored a golazo from inside the box that left Águilas goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa without any options.
After several dangerous opportunities for Necaxa, Colombian forward Hugo Rodallega, headed the final 2-0 score in the 79 minute, off a Pablo Gabas center.
América did not go down easy, since they had their share of menacing shots that forced excellent reactions from goalkeeper Omar Ortiz, to preserve the Necaxa victory.
The ‘siblings’ headed into this match aware that qualification was out of the question for both of them.
For Necaxa, they abandoned the last spot in the general table and earned points for their battle against relegation.
While this was the farewell to another miserable season for América, who ended at the bottom of the second group with 21 points.
Santos 0 - 0 Atlante
In the match that ended the regular season of the Torneo Apertura 2008, current champion of Mexican football advanced to the Liguilla with a scoreless draw against Atlante, and preserved their right to defend the title.
With Atlante already in the playoffs and the Pachuca result from Saturday, Santos had guaranteed qualification as long as they did not lose this encounter by more than two goals.
Even if the Potros proved to be the most dangerous side and came close to open the score on several occasions, neither side displayed great efforts to deserve the victory.
Both Group 1 squads qualified to the quarterfinals in the first and second spots of the sector.
Atlante took the top spot with 27 points, while Santos finished five units behind with 22 points as runner-up.
--César García covers México for Goal.com.
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