HOUSTON -- In a prelude to the Chivas de Guadelara-America clasico, Atlas and Tigres UANL played to a scoreless draw in the third game of InterLiga 2009 and first in Group B Saturday night at Robertson Stadium.
Atlas dominated play in the first half, out-shooting Tigres, 7-2, but Tigres controlled the action in the second half and just missed coming out with a win.
Both teams sit at 0-0-1 with a point in Group B play.
"This game was very boring due to it this being our preseason," said Tigres midfielder Lucas Lobos. "We still don't have all of the understanding of how everyone plays the game, so we are still a little new with each other."
Atlas came out quick as Eduardo Rergis fired one from outside the 18-yard box in the first 30 seconds of the match, but his shot went wide right. Cesar Ibanez got a feed to the top of the box in the eighth minute, but his low line drive went wide to the left.
Sandwiched between the Atlas attempts, Tigres' Julio Aguilar headed a free kick from the middle of the box in the fifth minute, but the ball sailed just over the cross bar. In the 18th minute, Atlas' Jorge Archucarro got a feed in the upper right corner of the box from Bruno Marioni, but Archucarro sent his shot 10 rows into the stands.
Two minutes later, Marioni nearly put Atlas on the board after getting a pass back on the left side of the box and letting a bullet go that hit the left side of the net. Ibanez got another shot off in the 34th minute, but the rocket from just beyond the right corner of the box went high.
In the 40th minute, Atlas had another chance to take the lead when Botinelli faked out two Tigres defenders on the right side of the box and passed off to defender Nestor Vidrio, who let a shot fly high. Three minutes later, Rergis got control of a loose ball on the left side and one-timed it just outside the left side of the net.
"It was a difficult game because they played well defensively," Botinelli said. "We weren't able to take advantage of the chances we had. We have a good attitude, and we know we have to have better offense if we are going to win."
Tigres finally got another shot off in the first half stoppage time as Jesus Molina got a short pass at the top of the semi-circle and fired a one-timer over the crossbar.
"I thought we needed to have more communication between our players," said Tigres midfielder Francisco Fonseca. "During the season we will have that communication, but we were working with a couple new players tonight, so we had to try to integrate them."
Tigres got its first shot on goal in the 49th minute with a free kick by midfielder Lucas Lobos, but Atlas' goalkeeper Pedro Hernandez was easily able to save it to keep it scoreless.
Atlas came right back in the 52nd minute with a Marioni free kick from just right of the semi-circle that blistered by the wall, and forced Tigres 'keeper Oscar Perez to make a diving save to his right to stop. In the 65th minute, Marioni took an open, right-footed shot in the middle of the box, but his weak shot missed to the left of the net.
Tigres' Ariel Bogado received a feed at the upper left corner of the box in the 69th minute, but he missed the shot left of the net. Atlas came right back as Marioni got a shot in the middle of the box, but Perez came off his line and made a foot save to deny the scoring opportunity.
Vidrio got a header off in the 82nd minute, but it went high. Tigres quickly got the ball up the field, and Lobos fired a bullet from the left box, which Hernandez saved nicely to keep the match scoreless.
Jesus Duenos got a touch in the 85th minute, but his shot from the upper right box went to the left of the net. Tigres came right back as second half substitute Francisco Fonseco tried to go one-on-one against Hernandez on the right side of the box, but Hernandez was able to stop Fonseco's shot.
Hernandez and Perez each finished with three saves in the match.
Both teams return to InterLiga play Tuesday night at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas with Tigres playing America at 7 p.m. CT and Atlas facing Chivas at 9:30 p.m. CT.
"Every game is an important game right now," Marioni said about having to play Chivas and America still. "We have to win as many as we can. We knew they were going to stay back and defend well and make us beat them. We couldn't convert the chances we got."
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