TIJUANA, BC.- Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente and Diablos Rojos del Toluca fought hard on Sunday morning, but ended up scoreless in a match corresponding to the 14th week of the Mexican Liga MX tournament.

The result does not help Tijuana's aspirations to qualify to Playoffs, as the team is now in 12th place of the table, just 4 points shy from the last "Liguilla" spot.

The game

The first minutes on the field were very complicated for the visitors, since Toluca is playing better soccer at home and Xolos were very careful on the defensive side.

From the 24th minute onward, the game started to be more exciting, with a Diablos Rojos side playing aggressively at the front thanks to a power shot by Antonio Rios, which ended up extremely near the left post.

Xolos reacted and answered three minutes later with a long distance shot by Argentine forward Dario Benedetto; the ball was deflected by Alfredo Talavera, but the goalkeeper showed fast reflexes and ended up blocking Fidel Martinez's shot from the rebound.

Carlos Rodriguez was sent off at the 35th minute after a hard foul over Javier Guemez, leaving the local squad with ten men on the field.

During the second half, and to try to take advantage of the Red Devil's 10 player team, Tijuana's manager Jorge Almiron tried to make his team smarter in the attack. But it was Toluca at the 60th minute that had the biggest chance of the game, when Isaac Brizuela recovered the ball and made a cross to Antonio Naelson "Sinha". Sinha took his chance and shot a ball that ended up being deflected by Cirilo Saucedo.

After this, the match ended up on a battle in the middle of the field, with no clear chances for any of the teams.

Tijuana will host the UANL Tigres next Friday at Estadio Caliente.

Lineups:

Toluca: Alfredo Talavera; Oscar Rojas, Paulo da Silva, Fausto Pinto, Gerardo Rodríguez; Isaac Brizuela, Antonio Ríos, Wilson Tiago, Carlos Esquivel (Francisco Gamboa 39´); Sinha (Edgar Benítez 72´); Pablo Velásquez. Manager: José Cardozo.

Tijuana: Cirilo Saucedo; Juan Carlos Núñez, Javier Gandolfi, Pablo Aguilar, Edgar Castillo; Cristian Pellerano, Fernando Arce, Javier Güemez (Richard Ruíz 45´); Paul Arriola (Hérculez Gómez 68´), Darío Benedetto (Greg Garza 80´), Fidel Martínez. Manager: Jorge Almirón.

manuel.medina@sandiegored.com