CARSON, Calif. - Club America will make its fifth Copa Libertadores appearance after outlasting Tigres UANL on penalty kicks Saturday following a tense battle in the InterLiga finale at The Home Depot Center.
To the delight of the sellout crowd of 27,000, goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa saved two spot kicks and the Aguilas pulled out a 4-2 triumph in the tiebreaker after a largely mundane 120 minutes of scoreless soccer in the second InterLiga final to capture Mexico's No. 3 Libertadores berth.
America joins Toluca and Necaxa in Copa Libertadores and will face Peru's Sporting Cristal in a home-and-home playoff Jan. 24 in Mexico City and Jan. 31 in Lima. The winner will advance to Group 1, competing with Argentina's Banfield, Paraguay's Libertad and Ecuador's El Nacional.
Toluca, which beat America in a playoff last fall for Mexico's No. 1 berth in the tournament, is paired with Argentina's Boca Juniors, Bolivia's Bolivar and a Peruvean team to be determined in Group 7.
Necaxa, which won the InterLiga title with a 1-0 victory over Jaguares de Chiapas in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, advances to Group 2, in which they will battle Brazil's Sao Paulo, Chile's Audax Italiano and Peru's Alianza Lima.
America last played in South America's club championship three years ago, falling in the second round. The Aguilas also reached the second round in 1998 and advanced to the semifinals in 2000 and 2002.
Ochoa dived to his right to stop Emmanuel Cerda, who took the opening kick, and to his left to stop Javier Saavedra, who was Tigres' fourth shooter.
America converted all four of its penalties, with Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Salvador Cabanas, Oscar Rojas and Nelson Cuevas beating Tigres goalkeeper Edgar Hernandez. Walter Gaitan and Jaime Lozano found the net for Tigres.
The Aguilas, their defense anchored by Duilio Davino, notched their third successive InterLiga shutout, holding foes goalless for the final 365 minues of the tournament.
Tigres, winners of the previous two InterLigas, held off America until penalties despite playing most of overtime with 10 men. Nicolas Ruvalcaba was ejected in the 105th minute upon picking up his second yellow card for fouling Cuauhtemoc Blanco from behind. Ruvalcaba spat in Blanco's face as he walked off the field.
America struggled most of the match but took charge the final 20 minutes of regulation, largely through Cuevas' dynamic play on the left flank. The Paraguayan forward, the hero of America's victory Wednesday over Jaguares to win Group B, created myriad chances, but his shot failed him. Too often he beat defenders only to fire meekly at Hernandez.
Tigres made little of their early domination and had little to offer after the 69th minute. Davino stabbed the ball away from Cerda as he bore down on an open shot in the 29th minute, and Lozano's free kick in the 53rd bounced through traffic before Ochoa nabbed it at the far post.
The Monterrey club's best chances came one after the other midway through the second half. Gaitan, from 22 yards, was deleted just over the net in the 61st, and Cerda ripped a shot from 21 yards off the top of the crossbar in the 62nd.
America managed four truly dangerous chances, with Hernandez forced to make diving stops on Cuevas from 30 yards in the 65th, on Rojas from 22 after Blanco's free kick rebounded off the Tigres wall in the 72nd, and on Cabanas from close range from Blanco's nifty ball into space three minutes into the second overtime period.
The Aguilas failed to put a shot on an empty goal in second-half stoppage time after Hernandez came out to the edge of his box to knock away a Blanco feed for Cuevas. With Hernandez on the ground outside the box, Rojas tracked down the ball and tried to find an open channel to shoot through. Tigres, who often put eight or nine players behind the ball, tracked back to cover the net, and Rojas' shot sailed wide right.
Tigres was the better team in the first half, repeatedly finding paths into America's box although not always making much of the opportunities. The Aguilas were a paradox, linking well in midfield, especially through Cabanas, but creating little and too often alternating incisive play with careless passes or poor execution.
Blanco, back in the lineup after missing the Group B finale through suspension, tried to direct the attack, but his touch appeared off, and even when his ideas were good, little came of them.
America repeatedly wasted opportunities. German Villa fired well off target twice and chipped the ball gently to Hernandez when given an open shot in the 37th minute. Nelson Cuevas, who came on for injured Juan Carlos Mosqueda in the 24th minute, fired a one-hopper at Hernandez after beating two defenders on the left in the 42nd, a chance he should have done more with.
Cerda had another opportunity in the 38th, taking a feed from Mario Ruiz and turning defender Ismael Rodriguez in the box. Rodriguez recovered to deflect the shot well over the crossbar.
Scott French is a contributor to InterLiga.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the tournament's organizers or clubs.
