Chalá, who enters the change frequently in the Zorros draw, will meet Ángel Mena in the finals of the Apertura 2021 tournament in Mexico.
After 22 years of waiting, Atlas qualified again for the final of Mexican soccer, despite losing 1-0 to the Pumas on Sunday in the second leg of the semifinal of the Apertura-2021 tournament played at the Jalisco stadium.
The tie ended with a 1-1 aggregate tie and the Atlas Foxes advanced by their best position in the table at the end of the regular season; They were second and the felines eleventh.
Ecuadorian defender Aníbal Chalá, who joined the Guadalajara team last September, played 17 minutes last night after entering as a replacement for Luis Reyes.
Atlas will face in the final the Lion trained by the Argentine Ariel Holan.
The Foxes came out to exercise control of the game, but their first arrival clearly occurred at minute 20 when Jairo Torres appeared on the right side of the area and connected a shot that ended up contained in the gloves of goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera.
The goalkeeper of the felines returned to save his team at 35 when he launched himself to cover a shot by Peruvian Anderson Santamaría that went to the lower left corner; this play continued and ended with a scissor shot from Aldo Rocha that went over the crossbar.
The Pumas responded until 41st when the Brazilian Diogo de Oliveira controlled the ball with his chest inside the area, but his shot went to the right side of the athlete’s goal.
Pumas claw
Atlas continued to generate better chances in the second half. At 54, Colombian Julián Quiñones escaped through the left sector and sent a pass to the area where Argentine Julio Furch finished off to one side of the goal.
Forced to score two goals to go to the final, the Pumas had shots from Ecuadorian Washington Corozo and Brazilian Rogerio de Oliveira, but without disturbing Colombian goalkeeper Camilo Vargas.
The felines finally found it 1-0 at 76. Efraín Velarde tried the shot from outside the area with a left foot, Vargas rejected the ball and the Argentine Juan Dinenno took advantage of the rebound to sweep himself inside the small area and score the goal.
In the instant response, at 78, Furch appeared in the small area to finish off the open goal, but crashed the ball into the right post.
At 82, Corozo took a header, but the shot was deflected by Dinenno who came out with a nosebleed due to an elbow from Santamaría. The referee reviewed this play in the VAR, but decided not to score a penalty.
In compensation time, there was drama and controversy. In search of the winning goal Dinenno launched himself to connect a scissors in the area, the shot did not connect with the ball, but it did hit the face of defender Jesús Angulo who fell and was knocked out for a few moments; The referee sent off the Argentine striker at 90 + 3.
The Atlas endured the last minutes and secured his pass to the final, an instance that he reached earlier in the Summer-1999 tournament; Diego Cocca’s Foxes will seek the league title they have not won since the 1950-51 season.
On Saturday, León became the first runner-up by defeating the Tigres 2-1 with a double from Ecuadorian Ángel Mena at the Nou Camp stadium.
The aggregate score for this tie was 3-3 and La Fiera advanced by its best position in the table position in the regular phase (third against fourth). (D)
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