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Emelec defeats Olimpia to reach second round

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Ecuador's Emelec defeated Olimpia of Paraguay 3-2 in a dramatic finish on Thursday with three second-half goals and a stoppage-time winner enough to clinch a spot in the second round of the Copa Libertadores.

Emelec finished with nine points in six matches in Group 2. Olimpia finished with seven and was eliminated.

Lanus of Argentina topped the group with 10 points despite losing 3-0 to Flamengo. The Brazilian club finished on eight and was also eliminated.

Emelec's Jose Luis Quinonez headed home the winner two minutes into second-half stoppage time. The goal came just a minute after Pablo Zeballos had equalized for Olimpia, which would have given the Paraguay side the draw and a place in the second round.

Olimpia's Arnaldo Castorino had opened the scoring in first-half injury time before Marcos Mondaini equalized for Emelec in the 67th and Angel Mena made it 2-1 in the 88th.

In late matches in Group 5, Libertad of Paraguay defeated Alianza Lima 2-1 and Vasco da Gama defeated Nacional of Uruguay 1-0. Libertad and Vasco da Gama both finished with 13 points from six matches and had already advanced. Nacional finished on six and Alianza had three.

Jose Ariel Nunez and Nestor Camacho scored for Libertad, and Cristopher Hurtado scored for the Peru side.

Diego Souza got Vasco's winner.

Twelve teams have advanced to the 16-team knockout stage with final group matches set for next week.

The teams that have advanced are: Lanus, Emelec, Universidad Espanola, Fluminense, Boca Juniors, Libertad, Vasco da Gama, Corinthians, Cruz Azul, Velez Sarsfield, Atletico Nacional and Universidad de Chile.

Defending champion Santos is favored to qualify next week from Group 1. The other favorite to take the second spot in Group 1 is Brazilian club Internacional.

Bolivar of Bolivia, and Universidad Catolica of Chile are still alive for one of the spots from Group 3.

The other qualifier will come from Group 7. Deportivo Quito and Defensor Sporting of Uruguay are favorites. Mexico club Guadalajara still has a mathematical chance.

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