TIJUANA.- There are four games left in the 2012 Clausura tournament, and Xoloitzcuintles have in their hands, to classify for the first time in their history to the playoffs within the Mexican soccer premier league.
To achieve this, Xoloitzcuintles must take advantage of their condition as the local team, and this Saturday, the red and black team will receive Atlante´s Potros de Hierro, a team that gets here with urgency to win if they want to stay alive in the tournament.
"The team and staff had a dream, and that dream is to get to the playoffs, and the best part is that the team made their greatest effort to have a chance to get to the playoffs without depending on someone else´s results", said during this week´s training, Xolos team´s captain, Javier Gandolfi.
After this weekend´s game, Tijuana will have two consecutive games out of Caliente Stadium, against Jaguares and San Luis, by which, it is fundamental to get these three points.
"We´re going after the win since the first minute", assured the Argentinean defender.
Coach Antonio Mohamed said that all remaining games within the regular calendar must be played as if they were "The Finals", and must not lose any points.
"The mentality has being positive and we keep insisting in our minds that we can make it. We have enjoyed the whole process of getting ourselves to this position, but now we have to aim higher and reset our minds, hoping for greater achievements", "Turco" said.
"We have to play as hard as we´ve played all games in this tournament; we need the points, we need to win and we´re going to play with the same intensity. We have to take advantage of our condition as the home team this Saturday, and we need the fans to play their game in order for the rival to feel our condition as the home team", he added.
The ones that are not ready to get back to the field yet are defender Juan Pablo Santiago and midfielder Leandro Augusto, this last one seemed that he could get back to play after the injury he suffered on date 4, but this week he resented the same injury by which he is discarded for this game.
Tijuana is in 7th place within the general table of positions with 20 points, with five wins, five ties, and three loses. Atlante is in 12th place with four wins, three ties, and six loses. If they lose again, Cancun´s team would be practically out of the tournament.
Xoloitzcuintles must go back to play the soccer style that saved them from relegation, and that seem to have forgotten last week when they lost against Pachuca 1-0.
Atlante comes from getting a 2-2 tie against Chiapas Jaguares.
The Cancun team arrives here after the tragic news that on Thursday, Daniel Guerrero´s wife, player and captain of the team, had passed away.
The game will start this Saturday at 7PM before a sold out Caliente Stadium as always.
editorial@sandiegored.com
