All top seeds go through: Where’s the fun in that?

By: Chris | May 13th, 2007

The quarterfinals of the Clausura playoffs are in the books, with the top four seeds all surviving to move forward.

Saturday’s two return legs saw Chivas and Cruz Azul go through at the expense of Tigres and Tecos, respectively.

Saturday’s match in Guadalajara saw Chivas run off Tigres 3-2, moving forward on a 6-4 aggregate score.

Leading 3-1 after the first leg, the return leg was a strange one, with all 5 goals coming either from penalties or own goals. Javier Saavedra’s own goal in the 75th minute was one of those classic bonehead mistakes as he tried to play the ball around the post and put it into his own net.

Cruz Azul breezed through thanks to two 1-0 victories over Tecos in a tie in which they were rarely threatened. Richard Nuñez scored both goals in the tie with the 2nd leg in Mexico City played during a strong rain shower. Tecos’ best chance came early on in the return leg when Diego Colotto hit the post, but it wasn’t to be for the modest Guadalajara side.

Sunday brought a rematch of the best game in these playoffs, as América and Atlas played for a spot in the semifinals after a thrilling 3-3 game on Thursday. This time around, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, in his last season in Mexico, had a hand in the first three América goals, scoring two (one through a penalty) and setting up Santiago Fernandez’s easy header as the Águilas eventually won 4-1, going through on a 7-4 aggregate.

The only tie to feature any kind of drama at the end was the last one, with top-seeded Pachuca needing that status to move forward, advancing after tieing Santos 2-2 on aggregate, but advancing on the Mexican League’s higher-seed advances rule. Both games ended 1-1, and after Fernando Salazar put Pachuca ahead in Sunday’s return leg, Walter Jimenez equalized soon after off a corner, giving Santos a chance. There would be no miracle like there was last week at San Luis, as the Tuzos held on.

That sets up another couple of interesting semifinals, with one a repeat of the Apertura playoff semifinals.

That’s right: Chivas-América. We’ll have two superclassicos in the span of a week. We’ll see whether this tie or América’s impending tie in the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals with Santos FC of Brasil will take precedence. The Águilas host Santos on Wednesday and will probably host Chivas on Thursday.

Pachuca-Cruz Azul will be the Battle of Borgetti, as the Cruz Azul striker goes up against the team he left so controversially just a few years ago. We’ll see if Pachuca can overcome the hiccups they suffered this week against Santos to play like we know they’re capable of.