San Luis were two minutes away from reaching the semifinal phase of SuperLiga. Holding a slim 1-0 lead, the Mexican side was poised for a spot in the final four.
Instead, victory was snatched from their grasp by Chivas USA's Atiba Harris, who scored an 88th-minute equalizer as the clubs finished 1-1 at The Home Depot Center on Saturday.
The point sends Tigres UANL through to the semifinals along with the Chicago Fire, who booked their ticket on Tuesday. The result also sent San Luis home.
"I liked the way my team played," San Luis manager Juan Antonio Luna said in a post-match press conference. "We worked hard for nearly 90 minutes. We needed just two minutes to finish well. The result, I did not like one bit since it left us out of the tournament."
What made the draw hard for San Luis players and coaches to stomach was a pair of disallowed goals late in the game. Jose Reyes, who drew a penalty early in the second half, scored a goal that was disallowed due to an offside call. Alfredo Moreno, who accounted for San Luis' only goal, appeared to have another when he chipped a shot over Lance Parker's head in stoppage time but that too was called back.
"Two goals disallowed and a clear penalty that was not called," midfielder Braulio Luna said. "Obviously that is upsetting to us."
Luna had a chance to win it in stoppage time but his acrobatic backheel went just wide of the left post.
For San Luis defender Michael Orozco, to let an opportunity slip through their grasp was tough, especially since he said it was influenced by the officiating.
"We are obviously upset about it," Orozco said. "We can't believe the refs can do something like this."
San Luis held a lead after the Mexican team scored in the 53rd minute. A minute prior, Parker tripped up Reyes inside the penalty area and was booked for the foul, which resulted in a spot kick. Moreno, who rejoined San Luis after spells with Club America and Necaxa, buried the penalty.
Chivas USA, though, were resilient and fought back despite having been eliminated before the game even started. Tigres' win left Chivas USA with no hopes of advancing, but the hosts gave their supporters something to cheer nonetheless when Harris found the back of the net.
The goal, though, was followed by Moreno's disallowed strike in added time, which led to many puzzled looks and ardent complaints by San Luis players and coaches.
However, Luna was not among the complainers, at least not after the match.
"The referee's decisions cannot be changed. They were made and that's that," Luna said. "Everyone has their own point-of-view and everyone is going to judge the official's work. In this case I can't criticize him. He did his job and I hope he was able to do so with respect given the type of tournament this is."
For San Luis, who failed to reach the Mexican league playoffs last season, the tournament was still a positive despite not having reached the semifinals.
"Our objective was to actually qualify and get to the final but it's good because we are getting prepared for our season," Orozco said.
For Orozco, the match was somewhat bittersweet. A native of Orange, Calif., which is about 25 minutes down Highway 91, Orozco had a rare opportunity to play before loved ones.
"It was exciting my whole family was here, friends," Orozco said. "I would have liked for us to win the game. It would have been fun for us, for my family to actually get to see a victory for a Mexican team, with their son on that team."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
