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FRISCO — Already eliminated from contention in SuperLiga, Santos Laguna couldn’t quite play spoiler Sunday against Pachuca.
The defending SuperLiga champion, Pachuca benefited from the 1-1 draw to claim the second semifinal spot out of Group B.Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution claimed the Group B title with a 2-0-1 mark after tying Chivas USA 1-1 earlier Sunday night.In Group A, the Houston Dynamo claimed first and Atlante finished second. Houston hosts Pachuca on July 29 in one semifinal, and New England hosts Atlante on July 30.The SuperLiga tournament features four professional clubs from Major League Soccer and four from Mexico’s top professional division competing for a $1 million purse.On Sunday night, Pachuca opened the scoring in the fourth minute off a brilliant individual effort from Damian Alvarez. He drove through the central midfield and calmly hit a looping shot over goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez.The deft shot provided a clear example of the benefits of finesse rather than power.In fact, finesse described the entire Pachuca squad, which passed the ball with a precision not regularly seen at Pizza Hut Park.Pachuca forward Bruno Marioni provided a skillful display of movement and awareness, and even Pachuca’s defenders displayed stellar passing abilities and composure. Goalkeeper/captain Miguel Calero rarely punted the ball wildly up field. Instead, he routinely threw the ball to the feet of his defenders and midfielders to maintain possession.However, the match turned in Santos’ favor in the second half.Santos pressed the effort for the first 25 minutes and finally received its reward in the 71st minute. A solid series of passes ended with a low cross atop the 6-yard box, and Christian Benitez slipped the ball home.ONLINE: superliga2008.comTobias Xavier Lopez 817-685-3868
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