Tigres, Chivas Move Ahead

Say one thing for fans of Club Deportivo Guadalajara: When push comes to shove, the Chivas faithful know how to pack a stadium.

On Sunday evening, for the second time in six days, they flocked to the Home Depot Center in the thousands, this time for the finals of the Interliga soccer tournament, which qualifies two teams for South America’s prestigious Copa Libertadores.

Guadalajara, to the supporters’ relief, became one of those teams when it held on to defeat Veracruz, 2-1, in Sunday’s nightcap. Chivas had reached the Copa Libertadores semifinals last year and not qualifying this time around would have been unthinkable, especially to team owner Jorge Vergara.

Chivas will play Colo Colo of Chile in a two-game playoff that begins Jan. 24 with the winner advancing to the group stage.

In the earlier match Sunday, Tigres of UANL, won the Interliga title and also earned a Copa berth when they came from behind to edge Monterrey, 2-1 in overtime. Another Mexican club, UNAM Pumas, already had qualified.

As on Tuesday night, when 26,253 predominantly Chivas fans turned the 91 Freeway into a snarl of depressing proportions, traffic leading to the stadium again was backed up Sunday.

Two hours before their team took the field, the red-and-white-clad Chivas supporters had filled the stands. They watched the Tigres-Monterrey match with mild interest, then booed when the Veracruz players came out to warm up on a very chilly night.

But when the Chivas team -- featuring half a dozen members of Mexico’s World Cup-bound national side -- ran out onto the field, the sellout crowd of 27,000 let loose with a roar that shook the stadium.

And for once in what had been a generally lackluster Interliga for Coach Hans Westerhof’s team, the Chivas players’ performance matched the passion of its fans.

The Goats were one goal up after nine minutes thanks to forward Edwin Borboa and two goals ahead after 23 courtesy of fellow striker Omar Bravo.

Borboa fought off defender Marco Jimenez, turned and shot, the ball flying into the upper left corner of the net off the palm of diving Veracruz goalkeeper Jorge Bernal. Bravo’s goal came after he and Sergio Santana got behind the Veracruz defense on a breakaway.

In the second half, Veracruz made a game of it, cutting Chivas’ lead in half in the 58th minute on a penalty kick by Gustavo Biscayzacu after a foul by Carlos Salcido on Oscar Rojas.

Veracruz battled to get the tying goal, but Chivas hung on for the victory.

In the opener, Tigres midfielder Jaime Lozano emerged as the unlikely hero, slamming in the winning goal 29 seconds into overtime. Lozano’s shot struck defender Felipe Baloy and looped into the net after Monterrey goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco had blocked Nestor Silvera’s initial shot.

The goal capped a strong comeback by Tigres, who had fallen behind in the third minute to a goal by Monterrey’s Ricardo Martinez.

Tigres’ chances of tying, let alone winning, the match appeared to decrease when midfielder Antonio Sancho was ejected by referee Abiodun Okulaja in the 54th minute for kicking Martinez in the back as the two tussled for the ball.

Fourteen minutes later, however, midfielder Walter Gaitan, the Interliga’s joint-leading scorer with four goals, got free to the left of the net and unleashed a low shot that zoomed past Orozco to make it 1-1.

Twenty-nine seconds into the 30-minute overtime, Lozano’s goal secured Tigres the title and a place in the Copa Libertadores.