The two highest seeds have the advantage going into the second leg of the semifinals.
In the Estadio Azteca, America lost their second match in three opportunities and put themselves in a deep hole going into the second leg of the semifinals thanks to bad finishing and shaky officiating during the first 90 minutes of the series.
Across town at the Estadio Universitario, things were not much better for home team Pumas, who were unable to break the deadlock and get through a tough Monterrey defense who decided things would be better decided back home at the Tecnologico, site of this series second and final match.
There are only four matches remaining the Mexican Apertura season - follow them all on LiveSoccer TV!
A repeat of the vibrant, offense-heavy match that both teams starred in back in Matchday 7 of the regular season took place at the Estadio Azteca, when two teams bent on creating spectacular football took the pitch last Thursday night.
And despite the premise, it was defensive errors which marred the game and provoked dents on the scoreboard. América defender Patricio Treviño, subbing for regular starter Aquivaldo Mosquera, was not able to clear a Jose Maria Cardenas shot correctly; the ball fell to Darwin Quintero - who struck past Guillermo Ochoa.
0-1 to the visitors.
Angel Reyna fought back for his team, after a fantastic connection between he and Vicente Sanchez yielded the Aguilas' first goal of the game. It was all square after 45 minutes.
Santos boss Ruben Omar Romano then decided to be a little more tentative and beat América at its own game - counterattacks. The constant misses in front of Oswaldo Sanchez's net were worsened by the danger created on counters by Santos strikers Quintero and Christian Benitez.
It would be Benitez who would score with just eight minutes remaining, giving Santos a comfortable two-goal lead (with the tiebreaker) en route to their second consecutive final.
Earlier, América's Matias Vuoso was controversially brought down in the penalty box with no call from the match official.
Pumas were unable to win their first match at home during the postseason, as Monterrey came out wanting nothing to be defined after the first leg, and played solid defense throughout that stymied the felines' offense.
Martin Bravo and Dante Lopez were denied time and time again by a very organized visiting defense, who pushed them back for the entirety of the 90 minutes of the match, and arguably won man of the match awards for their work.
Humberto Suazo, up front for Monterrey, had a couple of chances that were not taken correctly, but was mostly used as a decoy for Victor Manuel Vucetich's squad.
With 90 minutes left in Monterrey, it will be that match that defines whether Monterrey goes for its second championship in two years or if Pumas ventures to its first final since 2007.
It would be rookie manager Guillermo Vasquez's first - compared to the more than ten finals that have been played out with Vucetich on the managerial bench.
Across town at the Estadio Universitario, things were not much better for home team Pumas, who were unable to break the deadlock and get through a tough Monterrey defense who decided things would be better decided back home at the Tecnologico, site of this series second and final match.
There are only four matches remaining the Mexican Apertura season - follow them all on LiveSoccer TV!
A repeat of the vibrant, offense-heavy match that both teams starred in back in Matchday 7 of the regular season took place at the Estadio Azteca, when two teams bent on creating spectacular football took the pitch last Thursday night.
And despite the premise, it was defensive errors which marred the game and provoked dents on the scoreboard. América defender Patricio Treviño, subbing for regular starter Aquivaldo Mosquera, was not able to clear a Jose Maria Cardenas shot correctly; the ball fell to Darwin Quintero - who struck past Guillermo Ochoa.
0-1 to the visitors.
Angel Reyna fought back for his team, after a fantastic connection between he and Vicente Sanchez yielded the Aguilas' first goal of the game. It was all square after 45 minutes.
Santos boss Ruben Omar Romano then decided to be a little more tentative and beat América at its own game - counterattacks. The constant misses in front of Oswaldo Sanchez's net were worsened by the danger created on counters by Santos strikers Quintero and Christian Benitez.
It would be Benitez who would score with just eight minutes remaining, giving Santos a comfortable two-goal lead (with the tiebreaker) en route to their second consecutive final.
Earlier, América's Matias Vuoso was controversially brought down in the penalty box with no call from the match official.
Pumas were unable to win their first match at home during the postseason, as Monterrey came out wanting nothing to be defined after the first leg, and played solid defense throughout that stymied the felines' offense.
Martin Bravo and Dante Lopez were denied time and time again by a very organized visiting defense, who pushed them back for the entirety of the 90 minutes of the match, and arguably won man of the match awards for their work.
Humberto Suazo, up front for Monterrey, had a couple of chances that were not taken correctly, but was mostly used as a decoy for Victor Manuel Vucetich's squad.
With 90 minutes left in Monterrey, it will be that match that defines whether Monterrey goes for its second championship in two years or if Pumas ventures to its first final since 2007.
It would be rookie manager Guillermo Vasquez's first - compared to the more than ten finals that have been played out with Vucetich on the managerial bench.
