Mexican League Shake-Ups
The Mexican league championship race was reduced to four teams Sunday on an afternoon of playoff upsets and surprises.
The biggest upset came at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where Santos Laguna shocked defending champion Club America, 2-1, and ousted it from the tournament, 5-4 on aggregate, after the teams had tied the first game of the quarterfinal series, 3-3.
The biggest surprise came after Toluca had shut out Chivas of Guadalajara, 3-0, reversing an earlier 2-1 setback to also advance to the semifinals. Toluca Coach Wilson Graneolatti quit the team in order, he said, to preserve his “dignity.”
Also reaching the final four, but without similar fireworks, were UNAM, which edged Cruz Azul, 3-2 after a 0-0 tie in the first game, and Morelia, which completed a 7-2 aggregate rout of UAG with a 4-1 victory in the second game.
The news was being made by Santos Laguna and Graneolatti, however.
The latter said he was angry at the attempt by Rafael Lebrija, Toluca’s president, to bring former coach Ricardo Lavolpe, now Mexico’s national team coach, back for Sunday’s game after Toluca had lost the first leg of the quarterfinal series at Guadalajara.
“I’ve stopped being the coach and I’m doing it for my dignity,” Graneolatti said after Toluca had clinched its semifinal place with goals in the final 16 minutes from Salvador Carmona, Jose Cardozo and Vicente Sanchez.
“I took the decision before the start of the match. I don’t want to lose my dignity. I’ve got nothing against the club.”
Club America, meanwhile, was sent reeling by a first-half goal from Mexico national team striker Jared Borgetti and it fell further behind when German Villa accidentally put the ball into his own net.
A late penalty kick by Cuauhtemoc Blanco was not enough to save the defending champions.
Brazilian Final
Santos overcame the difficulty of having to play its “home” half of the Brazilian championship final at its opponent’s stadium Sunday as it defeated Corinthians, 2-0, in the first game of the two-game final in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Alberto gave Santos the lead in the 15th minute off a pass from Diego, and the underdogs doubled their advantage two minutes from the end when Renato scored off a pass from Robinho.
Santos was forced to play the game at the Morumbi stadium because its own Vila Belmiro stadium holds 5,000 fewer fans than the 25,000 minimum required by the Brazilian soccer federation for championship matches.
Moroccan Triumph
Wydad Casablanca became the first Moroccan team to win the African Cup Winners Cup on Sunday and thereby set the stage for the North African nation to sweep both of the continent’s top club prizes.
Wydad, which won the first match of the two-match final, 1-0, in Casablanca, lost the second, 2-1, Sunday to Asante Kotoko of Ghana in front of 80,000 in the Ghanaian city of Kumasi, but Mustapha Talha’s away goal was enough to earn Wydad the title.
Raja Casablanca can give Morocco the sweep if it defeats Zamalek of Egypt on Friday in Cairo in the second game of the African Champions Cup final.
El Salvador Wins
El Salvador defeated Mexico, 4-3 on penalty kicks, after the teams had played to a 1-1 tie after 120 minutes in the final of the XIX Central American and Caribbean Games Saturday at Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador.
Rafael Marquez put Mexico in front in the 15th minute, but Josue Galdamez tied the game during injury time at the end of the first half. Missed penalty kicks by Mexico’s Luis Perez and Juan Carlos Cacho then handed the Salvadorans their first soccer gold medal at the Games since 1954.
