Santos Laguna Defeats Atlas on Penalty Kicks

Carlos Maria Morales had given underdog Atlas the early lead with a 23rd-minute goal on a breakaway opportunity.

But when Morales really needed to find the net Wednesday night, as the fifth Atlas player to attempt a penalty kick in a shootout warranted by a 2-2 draw, the forward came up short.

Cristian Lucchetti dived to his right and easily blocked Morales’ try, giving Santos Laguna a 4-3 victory in the penalty-kick shootout and the Interliga championship in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 27,000 at the Home Depot Center.

With the victory, Santos Laguna earned its first berth -- and became the first Mexican team to gain an automatic bid -- in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s premier club tournament. (Mexican clubs had to play Venezuelan clubs for the spots.)

Santos Laguna will be in Group 3 of the Copa Libertadores, along with Cruzeiro of Brazil, Universidad de Concepcion of Chile and Caracas FC of Venezuela.

“We need to make some changes to be able to compete genuinely in both Libertadores and in our league,” first-year Coach Eduardo de la Torre said.

Before Lucchetti denied Morales, Atlas reserve Julio Pinheiro’s left-footed kick sailed high over the crossbar. Until that point, Atlas had made three consecutive penalty kicks.

Atlas, which was forced to play a man down for the final 49 minutes after losing midfielder Gerardo Torres because of a red card, still has a chance to gain Mexico’s second bid to the Copa Libertadores. It will face Club America, a 3-1 winner over Monarcas Morelia in the second game of the doubleheader, in a home-and-home series.

The winner of the Atlas-America series will be in Group 1 with Sao Caetano of Brazil, Penarol of Uruguay and The Strongest of Bolivia for the first-round stage on Feb. 3-April 15.

After Morales had given Atlas the lead on his shot that went through the legs of Lucchetti, forward Jared Borgetti scored the equalizer on a penalty kick in the 39th minute.

In the 62nd minute, forward Rodrigo Ruiz blasted home a shot from the top of the box, giving Santos Laguna a 2-1 lead. The advantage was short-lived as an own-goal a minute later -- the ball ricocheting around the box before going in -- tied the score and set up the shootout.

In the America-Morelia match, Ariel Gonzalez, Reinaldo Navia and Cuauhtemoc Blanco had goals for America, and Roberto Palacios scored for Morelia.