Copa Libertadores: Liga de Quito holds San Lorenzo; America beats Santos 2-0

Fri, May 16 09:01 AM

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ Liga de Quito held San Lorenzo to a 1-1 draw Thursday, the second straight night a visitor has stymied an Argentine host in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals. On Wednesday, Atlas of Mexico scored in the 88th minute to earn a 2-2 draw with Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, leaving both of Argentina's teams in jeopardy of elimination.

Claudio Bieler scored the first goal for Liga in the 36th minute. San Lorenzo goalkeeper Agustin Orion fielded a loose ball and was juggling it playfully at his feet when Bieler rushed him, dispossessed him and scored.

Two minutes later, Adrian Gonzalez equalized with a shot from outside the area that squeezed just inside the post to beat Liga goalkeeper Jose Cevallos. San Lorenzo pressed furiously for a second goal, but failed to capitalize on a raucous crowd of 40,000 mostly Argentine fans.

The two meet for the second leg Wednesday at Liga's home in Quito, Ecuador. At Mexico City, Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas scored twice and America got a 2-0 win over Santos of Brazil.

Cabanas, who was the tournament's scoring champion in 2007 with 12 goals, scored in the 21st and 62nd minute and now is tied for the lead in this edition with Marcelo Moreno from Cruzeiro, who is eliminated. Cabana's first goal came on a corner kick from Alejandro Arguello, and for his second he controlled a pass from German Villa with his chest and took a right foot shot from inside the box to beat Brazilian goalkeeper Fabio Costa.

"It was a great win, we deserved it and owed it to all the people who came to give us support. We make the sacrifices and now we have to wait another 90 minutes to reach the next round," Cabanas said.

"Now we need to play smart, it's going to be hard in Brazil, but we hope to play well." The Eagles, who played in front of a crowd of 100,000 fans, can advance to the semifinals with a tie in the second leg next Thursday at Rio do Janeiro.

America, who ended as the worst team in the local tournament for the first time in their history, looked eliminated two weeks ago after a 4-2 loss against Flamengo in their stadium, but rallied for an improbable 3-0 victory in the second leg at Brazil to reach this stage. "The thing is that we try to play defense first and then we attack and try to be effective up front, we have more balance now," said Juan Antonio Luna, the team's third head coach in the past four months.

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