By DAN KARELL

Sitting outside of the playoff spaces, Club Tijuana earned a much-needed victory to keep their chances of defending their Apertura title alive.

Fidel Martinez arrived at the far post just in time to tap home the only goal of the match as Xolos defeated Queretaro, 1-0, at Estadio Caliente on Friday evening. The win pushed Tijuana up to ninth-place in the Liga MX Apertura standings with 16 points, just three behind Queretaro with four games remaining.

American Paul Arriola played a key role in the game-winning goal in the 76th minute, storming down the right wing before playing Fernando Arce in the middle. Arce’s shot took a deflection into the path of Martinez, who finished just in time to the delight of his team and the crowd.

Here’s a closer look at the best of Liga MX from Apertura Round 13:

AMERICA ROLL OVER CHIVAS

Club America’s magical season and Chivas Guadalajara’s miserable one continued on Saturday in El Clasico Nacional.

Behind two second-half goals in a three minute span, America defeated Chivas, 2-0, at Estadio Azteca. The win was the fourth straight for America and tenth in 12 games as they open up a six point lead at the top of the Liga MX table.

Rubens Sambeuza’s run down the left wing and subsequent cross allowed America and Mexico National Team striker Raul Jimenez to score the game’s first goal with a header inside the six yard box in the 69th minute. Two minutes later, Jimenez played provider with a nice one-two pass between the 22-year-old and Luis Gabriel Rey before the Colombian Rey finished the match off with a deflected goal.

With the defeat, Chivas slump to 17th in the table with eight points from 13 matches.

PUEBLA OVERRUN BY TEN-MAN CLUB LEON

Wearing pink uniforms in honor of Breast Cancer awareness, Club Leon put on a goal-scoring show despite playing more than 60 minutes of the match with ten men.

Leon took Puebla to task on Sunday at the Estadio Leon, winning 3-1 to keep their place as second in the Liga MX table.

Leon and recent Mexico National Team call up Rafa Marquez scored from the penalty spot in the 16th minute after Puebla’s Jonathan Laserda pulled down the long-haired Matias Britos inside the box. Marquez then conceded a penalty kick himself and was shown a straight red with a reckless challenge in the box that resulted in a high boot into the thigh of Puebla forward Alberto Medina in the 28th minute. Two minutes later, Gustavo Alustiza scored from the spot to tie the match.

In the second half, the home side put the game away with two clinical counter-attacks, first Luis Montes scoring from outside of the box in the 53rd minute and next summer signing for Leon Mauro Boselli scoring from close range in the 56th minute to make it a 3-1 scoreline.

Here’s a look at the entire list of matches from Apertura Round 13 in Liga MX:

FRIDAY

Morelia 2, Chiapas 1
Club Tijuana 1, Queretaro 0

SATURDAY

Club America 2, Chivas 0
Tigres UANL 1, Toluca 2
Pachuca 1, Veracruz 1
Atlante 2, Monterrey 1
Club Leon 3, Puebla 1
Atlas 1, Cruz Azul 2

SUNDAY

Pumas UNAM 0, Santos Laguna 1