Sergio Canales This Thursday he converted a penalty in the 90th minute to give the Rayados de Monterrey a 1-0 win over the Cougars UNAM in the quarterfinals of the Mexican soccer Apertura. In Monterrey, the Pumas confirmed their defense as the best in the championship and held off the powerful rival until Canales’ goal that will force the university team to win on Sunday in their stadium, in the second leg of the tie.
In the first half the visitors stood up well and dried up the Rayados attack; To complete their good performance, they were close to taking the lead with three shots on goal from César Huerta. One of them moved goalkeeper Luis Cárdenas, but Jorge Rubalcava let the goal go with everything in his favor. Seconds before the end of the first half, Monterrey created danger with a header from Gerardo Arteaga that went wide.
Canales, in a match against Pumas
The second half passed with Monterrey looking for the opposite goal. They attacked from all sides without achieving anything until defender Pablo Bennevendo committed a foul in the area, taken masterfully by Canales.
Two hours earlier, Domènec Torrent’s San Luis defeated Tigres UANL 3-0. Brazilians Leo Bonatini and Vitinho scored for San Luis, whose first score was a consequence of an own goal by fellow Brazilian Joaquim.
Tigres was better at the start of both halves, but lacked forcefulness. In the 35th minute Ricardo Chávez entered the area, Joaquim intercepted the ball and put it into his own goal. Once again in the second half the visitors started better, however, when the locals were playing worse, Bonatini accepted a ball from Vitinho and from the right made it 2-0, the advantage was extended in the 64th minute with a header from Vitinho.
Read also
The quarterfinals began this Wednesday with the triumphs of the champion América, seventh, 2-0 over Toluca, second; and Tijuana, ranked eighth, 3-0 over the leader Cruz Azul. The winners of each round will play in the semifinals. In the event of a tie, the best four in the regular phase, Cruz Azul, Toluca, Tigres UANL or Pumas UNAM, will qualify.
