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Soccer-Pumas secure top spot before Mexican title rounds

* Five teams qualify knockout phase * Nine in running for three more places (Releads with Pumas win) By Carlos Calvo MEXICO CITY, Nov 8 (Reuters) - UNAM Pumas beat Queretaro 2-1 at the Olimpico to secure top spot in the Mexican Apertura championship by taking a five-point lead with one match to go to the knockout rounds. Pumas have 34 points from 16 matches with Toluca second on 29 followed by UANL Tigres, America and Leon all on 27. The five teams have qualified for the eight-team playoffs and Pumas will meet the eighth-placed side in the quarter-finals after the 17-match league stage ends next weekend. Defender Luis Quintana and substitute Daniel Luduena scored the goals for Pumas, while the championship's top scorer Emanuel Villa replied for Queretaro with his 13th goal in 16 matches. Toluca booked their place on Saturday with a 2-1 win at injury-plagued Cruz Azul to end their opponents' slim hopes of qualifying. "If we improve up front we can compete with anyone in the (title) playoffs, we just have to be more lethal, killers in the area," Toluca's Paraguayan coach Jose Saturnino Cardozo told reporters. "This is a hard blow for all of us, and I include myself, regardless of when I arrived. I must find solutions," said Cruz Azul coach Tomas Boy, who took charge in mid-October. Cruz Azul have lost half a dozen players to injury during the Apertura, the first of two championships in the season, including Paraguay's Roque Santa Cruz, Spanish winger Marc Crosas and Mexico goalkeeper Jesus Corona. Tigres qualified on Friday when they beat Veracruz 3-1 with striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, whose form has earned him a France recall for their upcoming friendlies against Germany and England, giving them the lead with his 11th goal. Chiapas are on the cusp of qualification after a 3-2 win at Atlas put them in sixth place on 26 points after 16 matches. Argentine striker Silvio Romero, a transfer target for River Plate in his homeland, scored twice for Chiapas. They are three points ahead of Monterrey in seventh and eighth-place Morelia, who each have one match left in the 17-round league phase. Chiapas are also three points ahead of Puebla in ninth and 10th-place Veracruz and five in front of Queretaro and Pachuca, who all have six points still to play for. Copa MX knockout competition winners Guadalajara, with 18 points, and Atlas, on 17, are still mathematically in the hunt with two matches each to play including Wednesday's derby. (Writing by Rex Gowar,; editing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)