Fading Mexican champions Pachuca had three sent off as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Monterrey, who also had a player dismissed in a stormy game.
Pachuca coach Enrique Meza criticised his team after Argentine forward Damian Alvarez and Mexican internationals Jaime Correa and Fausto Pinto were shown the red card in the last half hour of Saturday's match.
"We did enough to deserve the defeat," said the former Mexico coach. "Our conduct left much to be desired, we stopped playing and tried to win the game on the base of... mis-channelled aggression."
Chilean international Humberto Suazo gave Monterrey a 27th minute lead but Christian Gimenez levelled two minutes later for the Beavers.
Despite having Jesus Arellano sent off for dissent in the 37th minute, Monterrey went back in front with another Suazo goal before Luis Perez completed the scoring with an injury-time penalty.
Alvarez was sent off for fighting, Pinto for an ugly foul and Correa for protesting the penalty award as Pachuca lost their heads.
Pachuca, the CONCACAF champions, are third in Group One with 19 points from 14 games and Monterrey and fifth in Group Two with 13.
Santos Laguna stayed top of Group Two with an impressive 5-2 win at Atlas, Group One leaders Toluca drew 0-0 at Chiapas and Morelia gave new coach David Patino a winning start by beating Tigres UANL 1-0.
Cesar Luis Menotti's Tescos UAG squandered a halftime lead as they went down 3-2 at home to San Luis. Colombian forward Tressor Moreno scored twice as the visitors struck three times in 14 minutes in the second half.
The win took San Luis top of Group Three and left the Owls bottom of Group One.
06 October 2007
The two teams yet to taste defeat this season maintained their unbeaten records after Atlante and Santos drew 2:2 in Cancun. Goals from Christian Benitez and Daniel Luduena put Santos two goals up and seemingly on their way to a sixth straight win. Venezuelan striker Giancarlo Maldonado put Atlante back into contention on 67-minutes with his sixth goal of the campaign and David Toledo drew them level on 79-minutes.
Pachuca returned to winning ways with a 4:1 demolition of San Luis, despite going behind to a Victor Piriz goal on the stroke of half-time. Pachuca was level a minute into the second-half through Juan Carlos Cacho, before a Christian Gimenez header and a double-strike from defender Paul Aguilar sealed the win for Enrique Meza's team. The final goal even came after Pachuca had been reduced to 10-men following a red card for midfielder Jaime Correa.
A 4:1 win at Veracruz saw Cruz Azul close the gap on the leaders although, like Pachuca, the visitors had to come from behind. Daniel Rios had Veracruz ahead on 11-minutes, but two goals from Richard Nunez had Cruz Azul ahead before the break, with late goals from Cesar Villaluz and Cesar Delgado making the points safe.
America beat Atlas 2:1 thanks to goals in each half from Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas. A late goal from Bruno Marioni was all that Atlas could muster, leaving them with just a point to their name after six matches.
After a slow start to the season, a Sergio Santana goal just before the break was enough for Guadalajara to beat UANL Tigres. In what was a round of comebacks, Morelia battled back from an early goal down at Monterrey to win 2:1. Egidio Arevalo put Monterrey ahead on 11-minutes, but goals from Luis Angel Landin and Gabriel Choy Gonzalez either side of the interval ensured that Morelia went home with three points.
Elsewhere Toluca handed out a 4:0 beating to Necaxa, with two late goals in each half. An Everaldo Barbosa own goal set Toluca on their way on 42-minutes and their lead was doubled before the break through Diego De la Torre. The visitors had substitute Angel Eduardo Reyna dismissed within two-minutes of coming on and their day was made worse still with further goals from Carlos Morales and Vicente Sanchez in the last 10-minutes.
A last-minute headed goal from Esteban Solari secured a first win of the season for UNAM Pumas, 2:1 victors at Jaguares Chiapas. Argentinean striker Solari had put Pumas ahead just before the break, but Jaguares looked to have secured a point three-minutes from time when defender Melvin Brown drew them level. Newly promoted Puebla also secured their first win of the campaign, with Alvaro Gonzalez scoring twice either side of a Jose Hiber Ruiz goal in beating bottom of the table UAG Tecos 3:0.
