Monterrey's Vucetich: It Wasn't A Goal, But A Golazo

Monterrey's view of the playoffs became a bit more enhanced after their Jornada 15 victory over Santos, but their view of the goal that helped them obtain the win was not quite as clear.

In the 50th minute of their critical home match against Santos, Aldo De Nigris sent a header on frame. The ball hit the crossbar, bounced on the ground and away from the goal and knocked out of bounds by Santos 'keeper Oswaldo Sanchez.

The officials ruled that the ball had crossed the goal line and awarded Monterrey a goal that broke the 1-1 deadlock and Monterrey held on for a 2-1 win.

Monterrey manager Victor Manuel Vucetich said he was not sure if it was a goal or not.

"I don't now if it crossed the goal line or not," he said in a post-match press conference. "It's very difficult to say, but it was a golazo."

The goal was set up by a clever pass from Humberto Suazo, who hit the ball with his right leg but had swung it behind his body and behind his left leg in order to get the ball into De Nigris.

"It was a beautiful play," Vucetich said. "I will say now that it was not a goal. It was a golazo, in reality a spectacular play."

Monterrey's victory was of the utmost imporatnce. Morelia beat Jaguares 2-1 and Puebla beat Atlas 1-0. Had Monterrey lost to Santos, Puebla would have pulled even with los Rayados, but instead Monterrey improved to 29 points and stayed within a pair of points of Morelia.

America, meanwhile, will try to keep pace against Pumas on Thursday.

"We're hoping to finish the season strong," Vucetich. "We have two games left. We cannot say anything (about the playoffs) until the next two weeks are over and with rivals like America and Morelia coming up, those two games will be instrumental in order to know exactly where we're going."

Goal.com

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