Chivas Gets to Semifinals of Interliga

Mexican international Francisco Palencia was supposed to be joining Chivas USA when the team begins play in Major League Soccer this season.

But after missing a crucial penalty kick in Guadalajara’s Mexican league championship series last season, the pony-tailed striker opted to stay with the parent club rather than move to Los Angeles and help launch its offshoot.

Palencia wanted to atone for the miss, he said. He also felt he would remain more in Mexico Coach Ricardo Lavolpe’s eye -- and thereby enhance his chances of going to the 2006 World Cup -- by playing for Guadalajara rather than for Chivas USA.

But, after Saturday night’s 1-0 Guadalajara win over Tigres in the eight-team Interliga tournament in front of 18,113 at the Home Depot Center, Palencia could have the Copa Libertadores tournament ahead of him.

By winning, Guadalajara clinched a place in Wednesday’s tournament finale at Houston, from which one team will qualify directly for South America’s premier club event and another will go into a playoff with a Peruvian club.

Tigres and Toluca earlier secured their places in the last four, and one more team will join them after two more Interliga games today at Dallas.

Guadalajara, playing out of an attacking 3-4-3 formation, carried the game to Tigres and was rewarded when a header by Omar Bravo beat Tigres goalkeeper Yair Urbina low to his right in the 37th minute.

After an eight-goal thriller had opened the doubleheader, one goal in the nightcap was enough for Chivas.

The earlier game saw Atlante come from a goal down to lead Santos Laguna, 3-1, and later, 4-2, before two improbable goals in injury time -- one by Rogelio Lopez in the 93rd minute and another by Jorge Campos in the 94th -- leveled the score at 4-4.