Cruz Azul gave themselves a big advantage heading into Sunday night's second leg of the Mexican Clausura semifinal against defending champion Santos Laguna.
Riding a powerful offense and impenetrable defense throughout the first leg, Cruz blitzed past Santos on their way to a convincing 3-0 opening leg victory, setting themselves up with the opportunity to advance to their first final since 2008.
Cruz followed through with their quest, ousting Santos in the second leg 2-1 and advancing to the 2013 final on the strength of a 5-1 aggregate. Cruz will now meet 10-time champion Club America for the championship.
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The club started the second contest in quick fashion when Javier Orozco sent one between the pipes from the right side of the box, giving his squad the early advantage and padding their overall lead in goals to 4. His goal sent the crowd of 33,000-plus fans at the Estadio Azul into an absolute frenzy as Cruz was now able to ride a wave of momentum moving forward.
17 minutes later, Orozco netted his second goal of the contest, this time from the center off an assist from Pablo Barrera. Cruz was up 2-0 and was well in control of the semifinal series.
Santos would get their only goal of the series when Andres Renteria powered one past Cruz keeper Jose Corona at the 37th-minute but his efforts were simply not enough.
Along with a strong offensive performance for the second-consecutive night against Santos, the defense for Cruz was stellar. Corona stopped 4 of the 5 shots he saw in the match while his team led the time of possession battle and controlled the tempo for most of the match.
While Cruz was having their way with Santos, Club America got a strong fight from Monterrey.
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The two clubs played to an even 2-2 draw in the first leg of their semifinal series, setting up a highly anticipated second leg that promised to be as entertaining as the opener.
In Saturday's semifinal finale, America started strong on both ends of the ball although they were unable to score until late in the contest.
At the 64th-minute, Raul Jimenez popped one through for America, giving them a crucial 1-0 lead in the second semi and the overall lead on goal aggregate. A back-up goal came 19-minutes later when Cristian Benitez rifled a left-footed shot off an assist from Raul Jimenez. America was up by 2 and would only need to be strong defensively to advance.
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A goal at the 90-minute mark from Monterrey's Aldo De Nigris cut the deficit in half but there was simply not enough time remaining as America disposed of the 2012 Clausura runner-up.
Club America now advances to the Mexican Clausura final for the first time since losing to Pachuca in 2007. Their last championship victory came two years prior when they upended Tecos UAG.
The first leg of the Clausura Finals will take place on Thursday, May 23rd at 10:00pm, EDT from the Estadio Azul. The second leg is set for Sunday, May 26th at 9:00pm, EDT. That contest will be played at Club America's home, the Estadio Azteca.
WATCH HIGHLIGHTS From Cruz's 2-1 Second Leg Victory Over Santos:
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