CD Guadalajara eliminated

Giancarlo Maldonado scored in the first half and Gerardo Espinoza provided the clincher in the final minutes at Santa Clara on Saturday night, powering Atlante to a 2-0 win that knocked CD Guadalajara out of the SuperLiga tournament.

Atlante had to win to qualify for the semifinals after Houston defeated D.C. United in the other Group A game Saturday. Houston, Atlante and CD Guadalajara, known as Chivas, all tied with six points; Houston won the group on goal differential, and Atlante advanced because of its win over Chivas.

It was the second consecutive year of SuperLiga disappointment for Chivas and its many flag-waving fans in a standing-room only crowd of 10,373. As with last year’s inaugural tournament, Chivas needed only a tie in its final pool-play match to advance to the semifinals but failed.

Atlante’s Christian Bermudez’s threaded a short pass in the 42nd minute that set Maldonado free on the right side of the penalty area. The Venezuelan then sent a low, 12-yard shot across the mouth of the goal and past diving goalkeeper Luis Ernesto Michel.

Espinoza’s clincher came in the 88th minute, when he knocked home a loose rebound after Gabriel Pereyra nodded a corner kick off the post.

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Houston 3, D.C. United 1 -- Bobby Boswell and Ricardo Clark scored off assists from Brad Davis to lift the Dynamo to a road victory that eliminated D.C. United from SuperLiga play.

Stuart Holden capped the scoring for Houston with a blast from 15 yards off an assist by Brian Ching in the 84th minute.

Houston will face the second-place team from Group B in the first semifinal on July 29. Atlante takes on the Group B winner on July 30.