TIJUANA, BC.- Thanks to a 75th minute goal by Colombian attacker Duvier Riascos, Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente managed to draw 1-1 against Zorros del Atlas, and kept its unbeaten at home record intact, while managing to keep the first position of the Standings for at least one night.

The match was played before a full Estadio Caliente, as part of Week 9 of the Apertura 2012 tournament of Liga MX.

The game

Xolos started the match with an offensive approach, and after a couple of plays well guarded by goalkeeper Miguel Pinto, Duvier Riascos was able to get a shot that would hit the horizontal bar at the 3rd minute mark, denying Tijuana of the first goal.

The tapatíos did not allow this to scare them, and 7 minutes after this play; Flavio Santos would take a shot that did not alarm keeper Cirilo Saucedo.

Afterward the border crew would press more and more, giving a good soccer exhibition, and at the 28 minute, Alfredo "Chango" Moreno would try to score from a bicycle kick, but the player couldn't make contact with the ball. One minute after this, Riascos would try once again his luck, but now the spectacular play did not give results.

When the local squad played better, it was when Héctor Mancilla, after Fernando Arce lost the ball and the Argentinian managed to make his way up to the box and after dribbling past 2 defenders, he managed to get a shot on goal that went inside, just to the side of the left post of Saucedo. For the first time on the season, Xolos was down by a goal at its house.

From here on the possession of the ball was for the visitors, with just a couple of chances for Tijuana, even another shot to the horizontal bar by Riascos. That was the end of the first half.

For the second half Atlas kept the ball but was losing possession by the minute. At minute 67, Édgar Castillo came in through the left wing to the attacking zone to give a cross to Joe Corona; the youngster headed the ball directly to the bottom left angle of Pinto's goal, but the goalkeeper managed to keep the ball on his hands.

But Riascos came into the rescue; Moreno sent a pass from the right wing to the center of the box, where Diego Olsina –who just came into the field-, would try to head it, failing to do so; but the ball went straight to Duvier's feet, and the player just had to push the ball inside to get a goal. 1-1 marked the scoreboard.

Tijuana had a couple more plays, but couldn't do anymore and rescued 1 point of a game that was almost lost for more than 75 minutes.

Xoloitzcuintles will now visit Estadio Corregidora next week, at Week 10 of Liga MX; while midweek the team will play Copa MX Quarterfinals against Correcaminos de la Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT).

manuel.medina@sandiegored.com