Apertura Week 17: Santos Laguna 3, Atlas 0

Santos Laguna (8-3-6, 27 pts) cruised into fourth place in the Apertura standings with a 3-0 win over lowly Atlas Saturday at Estadio TSM Corona.

Santiago Hoyos headed home a corner kick to open the scoring in the 27th minute, and was ejected in the 64th. Atlas failed to capitalize on their man advantage, and the sides were leveled in the 85th minute with a red card to the Rojinegros’ goalkeeper Miguel Pinto, who took down Oribe Peralta at the edge of the penalty area. Three minutes had ticked away before Carlos Morales doubled the Guerreros’ lead with a free kick past Lucas Ayala, pulled into the goal from midfield because Atlas had used all their substitutes. Peralta piled on with a stoppage-time tally, leaving him second on the Apertura scoring chart with ten goals.

Atlas finished at the bottom of the standings with 12 points from 17 games (2-6-

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Atlas Cannot Help Poor Record with 1-1 Draw Against Morelia

Atlas remained rooted to the foot of the Primera table after giving away a late lead against visiting Morelia, which fell further down the table after occupying a playoff spot for much of the early season. After a scoreless first half, Jahir Barraza finished off a swift counter to put Atlas ahead. However, Rafael Marquez Lugo flicked on a deep cross into the box past goalkeeper in the 83rd to earn a point that benefited neither side.

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Late Goal Denies Pumas Home Win Against Atlas

Edgar Iván Pacheco's late goal denied Pumas of a home win and nudged them out of the playoff picture for the time being.

A possible bad omen for Pumas was the injury to their starting goalkeeper, Sergio Bernal, in the 41st minute, which required the subbing in of Alejandro Palacios. Bernal's status is unknown at this point.

Pumas manager Guillermo Vázquez was determined to grab the game's three points, however, and pushed forward by substituting Juan Francisco Palencia into the game in the 46th minute.

Juan Carlos Cacho put the felines ahead with a splendid header in the 55th minute, a product of Jehu Chiapas's fine pass.

Atlas suffered a tough injury of their own, this one to starting striker Alfredo Moreno, who left the pitch in the 33rd minute. The Zorros pressed forward for most of the match, outshooting the home team ten to five, but showing little clarity in front of goal.

Or at least it seemed that way.

Pacheco appeared just six minutes from the death and scored his first goal of the season, a goal worth another point in Atlas' pile in their race to avoid relegation.

The result pushed Pumas to ninth place in the league table with 19 points. If the playoffs started today, they'd be eliminated.

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Atlas Upset Defending Champs Pumas 4-1

Defending champion Pumas continued its run of abysmal form, shipping four goals at home to lowly Atlas, which could not move off the bottom of the table despite the emphatic win. Jahir Barraza was on target twice for the visiting side, which collected a much-needed three points.

While Pumas' Martin Bravo had two good looks against Atlas goalkeeper Miguel Pinto denied early on, the visitors took a shock lead on 31 minutes through Ricardo Bocanegra after Francisco Torres found him open outside the area to finish with a powerful shot. Balance was restored five minutes later when Francisco Palencia scored with a volley as Atlas was clearing its lines from a corner kick, but the strike would only serve to postpone Atlas' onslaught until after the break.

The first blow came in the 48th minute as Barraza got in behind and held off his defender to fire past Antonio Palacios, setting the tone for the whole half. The visitors' second half surge continued 10 minutes later as Barraza found himself off to the races , taking the ball from the halfway line past a retreating Pumas defense before coolly finishing one-on-one.

Daniel Arreola made it 4-1 to Atlas with the team's third goal in 15 minutes, picking up a pass down the left from Flavio Santos and beating Palacios from well outside the area with a fierce shot that left the poorly-positioned goalkeeper with no chance. Pumas was unable to muster anything following that blow, and there are plenty of worrying signs for Guillermo Vazquez's men, who have now been outscored 8-2 in their last two games.

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Controversial injury allows Atlas to tie visting Tijuana 2-2.

A controversial injury time penalty allowed Atlas to come back and tie visiting Tijuana 2-2 in a chippy relegation battle. After a goalless first half, Atlas' Ricardo Jimenez put his team ahead with a header from a corner kick in the 50th minute. However, Tijuana fought back, with a second yellow to Atlas' Issac Rodriguez precipitating a headed goal from Jose Sand and an effort by Mauro Gerk from just outside the area. It looked enough for Tijuana, but the visitors fell apart at the end. First, Fernando Arce was sent off for a second yellow card in the space of three minutes, and then the referee awarded a penalty for a collision in the area, which Flavio Santos converted. The draw leaves both sides with one win from 12 games and seriously worrying about relegation.

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Atlante Roll Through Last Place Atlas

Last-place Atlas has only five points and again lost with Giancarlo Maldonado, Osvaldo Martinez and Francisco Fonseca getting the goals for Atlante, which has won its last four games and has 15 points.

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Cruz Azul Comes from behind to beat Atlas 2-1 in a wild finish

Cruz Azul came from behind beating a formidable Atlas squad 2-1 with second-half strikes from Adrian Cortes and Emanuel Villa.

After Hugo Rodriguez had put the visitors ahead, Wilmer Aguirre scored a penalty in the last minute to give San Luis a 2-1 win over Tecos.

The teams exchanged goals through Jose Joel Gonzalez and Herculez Gomez, but the match came to life in a wild finish which saw San Luis' Michael Orozco and Tecos' Juan Carlos Leano ejected, as well as Aguirre's penalty.

This weekend Cruz Azul will take on Pachuca in what could be a dogfight.

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