TIJUANA.- The defeat of the Xolos in Saturday's final match hit the soccer team's fans like a bucket of cold water.
An estimated 3,000 fans sporting team jerseys flocked to the Xolos' field, Caliente Stadium, to see the game against the Irapuato Freseros on giant screens that had been set up for the occasion. Thousands of others watched the match at home on network television.
But the celebration will have to wait.
Fresero forward José Cruz scored the game's only goal, dampening spirits in the border region.
No one poured joyously into the streets in the Río zone to hoist team flags and sound car horns, as they had done last season, when the Xolos won the tournament title.
After the defeat, some dejected fans did more than shake their heads.
"Truthfully, I cried. I feel the team had victory in its hands and the coach Joaquín del Olmo didn't take any risks, his strategy failed," Carlos Sainz, 33.
"I was very nervous during the game," added Ana Manjarrez, 30. "We planned to go celebrate; we already felt like we were in the First Division. Now we're just sad, discouraged."
Some fans consoled themselves with the knowledge that the Xolos will have a second opportunity to join Mexico's elite First Division league. The Tijuana team won last year's championship and that's why they will get another crack at beating the Freseros next week.
"We're disappointed but at the same time hopeful because we believe we'll win the next series," said 16-year-old Luis Humberto Reyes.
"We have everything to win," said Juan Carlos Enciso, also 16. "We have to have faith."
In recent days, posters and billboards have gone up around the city promoting the team, boasting that a move to the First Division was inevitable. On Saturday night, the boasting was quieted, at least for now.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
