MEXICO CITY ( Associated Press) — Paraguayan goalkeeper Anthony Silva saved a pair of penalties Sunday afternoon as Puebla cruised to a win over Mazatlan to reach the quarterfinals of Mexico’s Clausura tournament.
Néstor Vidrio scored a goal in the 90th minute to send the match to the definition from the eleven steps, where Silva saved shots from Uruguayan Nicolás Díaz and Marco Fabián to give the Pueblans a 3-1 win on penalties.
In regular time the match ended tied 2-2.
Diego de Buen put the locals in front just after four minutes and the Argentine Juan Pablo Segovia added to the 13th minute for the Pueblans, but Brian Rubio discounted in the 70th minute and when the game expired, Vidrio declared the equalizer.
On penalties, De Buen, the Argentine Federico Mancuello and Israel Reyes converted their executions for Puebla, which has not won a home game since the sixth date.
Puebla, which ended the regular tournament on a three-game losing streak, will now face America in one of the quarterfinal series.
The rest of the clashes depend on the result between Chivas and Pumas, which is played later and is the last of the reclassification.
Mazatlán, which agreed to reclassification as 12th and last place, suffered its second consecutive elimination in the playoffs.
Puebla took the lead when De Buen took a free kick from the left that hit the left post of Uruguayan goalkeeper Nicolás Vikonis.
Shortly after, on a corner kick, Segovia took advantage of the poor marking of the visiting defense and hit a header that left Vikonis without a chance.
It seemed that Puebla was heading for a simple victory, but Rubio took advantage of a rebound inside the area and cut the difference with a shot inside the small area.
Before the break, the Mazatlecos were close to equalizing in the 40th minute with a shot by Marco Fabián that hit the post.
In the complement, Mazatlán lost depth against a Puebla that opted to defend its advantage and look for quick transitions that had very little success.
The Cañoneros managed to tie at the end when goalkeeper Vikonis hit a header from a corner kick and after a couple of rebounds the ball hit Glass in the chest and went to the back of the net to send the game to penalties.
