Apertura 2014 Copa MX Final

Apertura 2014 Copa MX Final

Estadio Corona, host of the final
Event	Apertura 2014 Copa MX
Santos Laguna Puebla 2 2
Santos Laguna won 4–2 on penalty kicks
Date	November 4, 2014
Venue	Estadio Corona, Torreón, Coahuila
Referee	César Ramos
Attendance	21,154
Weather	Rain

The Apertura 2014 Copa MX Final was the final of the Apertura 2014 Copa MX, the fifth edition of the Copa MX under its current format and 72nd overall organized by the Mexican Football Federation, the governing body of association football in Mexico.

The final was contested in a single leg format between Liga MX clubs, Santos Laguna and Puebla.^[1] The leg was hosted by Santos Laguna at Estadio Corona in Torreón, Coahuila on November 4, 2014. The winner earned a spot to face the winner of the Clausura 2015 edition in the 2015 Supercopa MX to qualify as Mexico 3 to the 2016 Copa Libertadores.^[2]

Venue

Due to the tournament's regulations the higher seed among both finalists during the group stage would host the final, thus Estadio Corona hosted the final.^[3] The home venue of Santos Laguna since 2009, it has staged Liga MX and CONCACAF Champions League finals, including the first leg of the 2013 CONCACAF Champions League Finals where Santos Laguna lost to Monterrey.^[4] Estadio Corona also staged eight matches of the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which included most of Group D matches and some knockout stage matches including the semifinal between Mexico and Germany.^[5] The Mexico senior national team has also hosted international matches against North Korea, Brazil and El Salvador at the stadium.^[6][7][8]

Background

Santos Laguna, has never won the tournament while Puebla has won it four previous times. Before reaching this final the last time Santos Laguna reached a final of any kind was the 2013 CONCACAF Champions League Finals where Santos Laguna lost to Monterrey 4–2 on aggregate.^[4] Puebla previously reached any type of final during the Apertura 2006 Primera A season when they defeated Salamanca 6–5 on penalty kicks in the final.^[9]

Santos Laguna won four, drew one and lost one group stage match and scored 12 goals during group stage, as they were seeded third, they eliminated Guadalajara in the quarterfinals and Tigres UANL in the semifinals.

Puebla won four, drew one and lost one group stage match and scored six goals, as they were seeded fifth, they eliminated Atlas on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals and Lobos BUAP on penalty kicks in the semifinals, both teams are from Liga MX.

Road to the finals

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.

Santos Laguna				Round	Puebla
Opponent	Result			Group stage	Opponent	Result
San Luis	1–3 (A)			Matchday 1	Celaya	1–0 (A)
San Luis	0–0 (H)			Matchday 2	Celaya	0–0 (H)
UAT	3–0 (H)			Matchday 3	Necaxa	1–0 (H)
UAT	3–2 (A)			Matchday 4	Necaxa	0–0 (A)
Monterrey	3–2 (A)			Matchday 5	Morelia	2–1 (H)
Monterrey	2–1 (H)			Matchday 6	Morelia	0–3 (A)
Group 2 winner Team Pld W D L RW GF GA GD Pts Santos Laguna 6 4 1 1 2 12 9 +3 15 San Luis 6 2 3 1 2 11 6 +5 11 Monterrey 6 2 1 3 2 10 8 +2 9 UAT 6 1 1 4 0 7 18 −11 4				Final standings	Group 5 winner Team Pld W D L RW GF GA GD Pts Puebla 6 4 1 1 2 6 4 +2 15 Morelia 6 2 3 1 2 11 6 +5 11 Necaxa 6 2 3 1 1 6 4 +2 10 Celaya 6 0 1 5 0 3 12 −9 1
Opponent	Result			Knockout stage	Opponent			Result
Guadalajara	5–0 (H)			Quarterfinals	Atlas	0–0 (4–3) (A)
UANL	4–2 (A)			Semifinals	BUAP	1–1 (5–4) (H)

Match

Santos Laguna v Puebla

4 November 2014 21:00

Santos Laguna	2–2	Puebla
Rentería  35' Calderón  76'	Report	Pajoy  71' Noriega  89'
	Penalties
Rodríguez Alanís Calderón Djaniny	4−2	Pajoy Pérez Acosta Torres

Estadio Corona, Torreón, Coahuila Attendance: 21,154 Referee: César Ramos

Santos Laguna

Puebla

GK 32 Julio González DF 16 Adrián Aldrete DF 2 Oswaldo Alanís DF 24 Carlos Izquierdoz DF 94 José Abella MF 17 Rodolfo Salinas  78' MF 8 Juan Pablo Rodríguez (c) FW 3 Carlos Quintero  57'  87' FW 27 Javier Orozco  69' FW 21 Djaniny FW 9 Andrés Rentería  82' Substitutions: GK 1 Oswaldo Sánchez DF 22 Néstor Araujo  87' MF 10 Mauro Cejas MF 11 Néstor Calderón  69' MF 83 Sergio Ceballos FW 99 Alonso Escoboza  82' MF 132 Ronaldo Cisneros Manager: Pedro Caixinha

GK 1 Alfredo Frausto DF 26 Mauricio Romero  63', 68' DF 12 Óscar Rojas DF 5 Mario de Luna  46' DF 16 Michael Orozco DF 3 Juan Carlos de la Barrera  53' MF 27 Francisco Torres MF 7 Luis Miguel Noriega (c) MF 10 Cuauhtémoc Blanco  73' MF 22 John Pajoy FW 29 Wilberto Cosme Substitutions: GK 30 Rodolfo Cota DF 18 Ricardo Esqueda  46' MF 6 Édgar Mejía MF 8 Gerardo Espinoza MF 27 Joshimar Acosta  53' FW 19 Flavio Santos FW 100 Eduardo Pérez  73' Manager: José Luis Sánchez Solá

Assistant referees: José Luis Camargo Igor Itzsvan Flores Fourth official: Erick Yair Miranda

References

1. "Santos y Puebla buscarán levantar la Copa MX" (in Spanish). MedioTiempo.com. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
2. "Copa MX dará un boleto para Libertadores" (in Spanish). Record.com.mx. 2 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
3. "Reglamento de competencia Copa MX Apertura 2013, articulo 2" [Apertura 2013 Copa MX Competition rules, Article 2] (PDF) (in Spanish). Liga MX. 5 November 2013.
4. "Santos, Monterrey battle to 0-0 draw in CONCACAF Champions League final". boxscorenews.com. 25 April 2013.
5. "Mexico-Germany match report". FIFA.com.
6. "Mexico-North Korea match report". Soccerway.
7. "Mexico-Brazil match report". Soccerway.
8. "Mexico-El Salvador match report". Soccerway.
9. "Puebla gana en penales 2(5)-2(6) al Salamanca y es Campeón de Primera 'A'" (in Spanish). MedioTiempo. 4 November 2014.