Santos Laguna vs Jaguares Match Preview
The green and white Warriors will host Chiapas after a 1-1 draw gave the third-seeded Santos an advantage going into the quarterfinal's second leg.
Ruben Omar Romano's squad will be banking on Christian Benitez's good form (the Ecuador striker was the competition's top scorer) in order to put the Jaguars away.
The visitors will rely on their solid defense and the explosiveness of Jackson Martinez and Danilinho up front to put their team ahead and hopefully push them through to the semifinals.
To do so, they'll have to overcome their poor form as visitors this season - the Jaguars only won once in eight games away from the Victor Manuel Reyna.
Santos Laguna vs Jaguares Match Report
An uncharacteristically defensive showing from Santos coach Ruben Omar Romano meant this match (and the series) stayed all square until the 94th minute, when a foul inside the Jaguares box meant Juan Pablo Rodriguez struck home a penalty kick that made it 1-0 and saw the home team through.
Coming off a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Jaguares needed to win by any margin to go to the semifinals and potentially face América. They were unable to take advantage of a few Jackson Martinez and Carlos Ochoa chances in the second half, and were mostly quieted by a fearful Santos Laguna who stacked the back with defenders.
Jaime Duran brought a Santos attacker down in injury time to set up Rodriguez's 12th playoff goal in his career and set up a rematch of a vibrant regular season match which América took from Santos Laguna at the Estadio Azteca.