Sports

Cruz Azul 2-1 Tijuana Xolos: Another road stumble

Xolos more concentrated on CCL match against Galaxy.

MEXICO CITY - Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente took yet another loss on the road and yet another loss to Cruz Azul. Tijuana had the slight hope of an upset when they took a 0-1 lead to halftime, but the home side restored order in the second half.

Tijuana Xolos manager Cesar Farias was clearly thinking about the upcoming CONCACAF Champion's League match against the LA Galaxy when deciding his starting lineup. He left out players like Javier Gandolfi, Juan Carlos Nueñez, Dario Benedetto, Fidel Martinez, Fernando Arce, Joe Corona, and leading goal scorer Cristian Pellerano.

San Diego, CA native Alejandro Guido got his first professional start and Fernando Arce Jr made his pro debut with a second half appearance. Fernando Arce nephew Edgar Villegas also had a second half appearance.

The home side Cruz Azul came out right from the starting whistle looking for the Tijuana goal. Three minutes in Mariano Pavone wasted what should have been the first goal. Pavone had a completely free header in the box, but sent the ball over the goal.

All first half long Tijuana Xolos tried to absorb the huge amount of pressure that Cruz Azul were piling on. Lack of order in the defensive line by Hernan Pellerano and Oliver Ortiz caused Cruz Azul to have some dangerous headers all through out the first half. Only bad finishing from the home side saved the Xoloitzcuintles from being down 3-0 at the halftime break.

One minute before the intermission, Club Tijuana took a very undeserving lead through Richard Ruiz who appeared at the back post to slam in a shot from close distance after Paul Arriola had escape his defender on the left side of the field.

The lead only lasted the 15 minutes that the teams were in the locker-room, because in the first minute of the second half Marco Fabian found tons of space and unleashed a long distance shot that found the bottom corner of Cirilo Saucedo's goal.

Not only did Farias' starting lineup say "I am only thinking of CONCACAF Champion's Leage" but his subsitites also seem to hint at that. With the game tied at one, Farias took off Striker Herculez Gomez and sent in youngster Edgar Villegas, Fernando Arce Jr. also made his pro debut coming in as a sub for goal scorer Richard Ruiz later on in the game.

Once again Marco Fabian found the back of the net with a long distance shot curling the ball to the second post.

With the loss Tijuana Xolos continues their over a year streak of not being able to win on the road. They also continue a winless streak against Cruz Azul, Tijuana has never been able to beat this team in six attempts now.

The Xoloitzcuintles will now return to the border where they'll face the LA Galaxy on Tuesday night, and Puebla on Friday night in week 12 action of Liga MX.

Find all Tijuana Xolos news in English here.

More local San Dego / Tijuana news on the Facebook and Twitter pages of SanDiegoRed.

jonny.rico@sandiegored.com (Follow Jonny Rico on Facebook and Twitter)

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