Mexican League Roundup, Nov. 21

Mexican League Roundup, Nov. 21

Published Nov. 22, 2010 10:50 a.m. ET

Monterrey overcome a late scare to advance to the Mexican Apertura semifinals with a 3-3 draw against Pachuca on Sunday.

Monterrey progressed due to its higher finish in the regular competition after the two-match quarterfinals series ended 4-4.

Monterrey will play against Pumas, while Santos will take on America in the semis.

In Torreon, Santos used a late penalty to beat Jaguares 1-0 and progressed 2-1 on aggregate.

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Jaguares had a couple of scoring chances wasted by Jackson Martinez which proved costly when Oribe Peralta was tackled inside the area and Juan Pablo Rodriguez converted the resulting penalty for Santos.

Monterrey's progress came under threat even after taking a 3-1 lead inside an hour.

The Monterrey goals came from Chilean striker Humberto Suazo in the 19th, Aldo De Nigris in the 36th and Neri Cardozo in the 56th.

But Colombian striker Franco Arizala, who scored Pachuca's first goal of the match in 25th, equalized with headers in the 84th and 89th for a dramatic ending that saw the Tuzos goalkeeper Miguel Calero take a shot on goal that was saved with trouble by Jonathan Orozco.

"We had the game under control, but we insisted on attacking and we lost control", De Nigris said. "We had a lead and we nearly lost it because we were overconfident."

On Saturday, Cruz Azul, the best team all season in Mexico, was knocked out of the quarterfinals with a 2-0 loss to Pumas.

Martin Bravo and Juan Carlos Cacho scored the goals in Pumas' best match of the Apertura season.

America defeated San Luis 4-1 in the other match.

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