(Video) Corozo, with the Pumas, and Mena, in the León, each doubled was sent for their teams to advance to the semifinals for the title of the Apertura tournament.
Ecuadorians Washington Corozo and Ángel Mena were directly responsible for Pumas and León advancing to the semifinals of the Apertura-2021 Mexican soccer tournament by scoring doubles, against América and Puebla, in the closing of the quarterfinal keys.
On Saturday, the Pumas appeared for the second leg with the titanic task of defeating the visiting leader América at the Azteca stadium where the Eagles had not lost at home since November 28, 2020.
Worse still for the cats, at minute 11 an American goal fell that forced them to go for two to qualify. There, Washington Corozo came to the rescue.
At 29, the Ecuadorian appeared in the small area to barely touch the ball with his left foot and sign the 1-1. At 42, as if he were a center forward, the extreme midfielder of the Pumas, returned to make an appearance in the rival area and scored the 2-1 with a header.
In the final stretch of the game when America was looking for the qualifying goal, Brazilian Higor Meritao sentenced it 3-1 to ensure the classification of the Pumas, at 82 with a header.
Both Corozo and Meritao arrived for this tournament amid discredit and surrounded by skepticism. The Brazilian made his first goal in Mexican soccer.
The Ecuadorian achieved his first double in Mexican soccer; in the regular phase he scored three goals that were worth seven points.
Mena saved the Fiera
On Sunday, León returned home, to the Nou Camp stadium, with the need to recover from the defeat suffered on Wednesday against Puebla 2-1.
‘La Fiera’ required scoring only one goal because the global tie at two would give him the pass to the semifinals; but he was facing a rival recognized for his grit and offensive attitude.
Mena made it 1-0 with a simple shot at the edge of the small area and with it the Lion already had his pass to the semifinals.
Puebla looked for in the rest of that game the tie that would have given them the classification, but Mena appeared to give him the coup de grace with the 2-0 that he got with a penalty that he placed in the lower right corner to overcome the goalkeeper’s throw Paraguayan Antony Silva.
Ángel Mena reached 58 goals with the León shirt, a team he reached for the Clausura-2019 tournament. (D)
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