Cruz Azul has been one of the best teams in the league this season, and they will head to Mictlán to face Xolos.
Match: Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente vs. Deportivo Social and Cultural Club Cruz Azul Asociación S.A. de C.V.
Date: Sunday, September 13th
Time: 22.06 East, 21.06. Central, 19:06 Pacific, 2:06 am UTC
Place: Estadio Caliente (Tijuana, B.C.)
Referee: REF: Oscar Mejia Garcia, AR1: Mario Jesús López Carrillo, AR2: Jorge Antonio Sánchez Espinoza, 4TH: Jesus Rafael Lopez Valle, VAR: Gerardo Martínez Bravo, AVAR: Jesús Sevilla Palafox
Television: United States – Fox Sports 1, FOX Deportes Networka; Mexico – Fox Sports; Belize – Fox Sports; Costa Rica – Fox Sports; Dominican Republic – Fox Sports; El Salvador – Fox Sports; Guatemala – Fox Sports; Honduras – Fox Sports; Nicaragua – Fox Sports; Panama – Fox Sports; Venezuela – Fox Sports
All-time record: Cruz Azul holds the all-time record, with nine wins and five Tijuana with the club drawing seven times in all competitions. The records in Liga MX play are similar, with Cruz Azul holding seven wins and four Xolos with seven draws between them. They met once in the Copa MX tournament, with Cruz Azul winning in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Clausura tournament. They also met in the 2013-14 Concacaf Champions League, with Cruz Azul winning 2-1 on aggregate en route to their sixth CCL title. The last time the two clubs met, Cruz Azul won 4-2 at the Estadio Azteca on March 7 thanks to two goals from Roberto “Piojo” Alvarado and goals from Jonathan “Cabecita” Rodríguez and Julio “Cata” Domínguez. Xolos got goals from Ignacio Rivero and Erick “Cubo” Torres. The last time they met in Tijuana, Xolos came from 2-1 down to a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Julián Velázquez, Kevin Balanta and Cubo, while Cruz Azul’s goals were scored by Pablo Aguilar and Yoshimar Yotún.
This is not the season that Xolos fans have hoped for. Initially expected to be a dark horse candidate for Liguilla’s success, Tijuana (3W 1D 5L) enters the week in 13th place with a tough trip to Mexico City to face Cruz Azul (6W 1D 2L) on Sunday. The good news for Tijuana is that they won two in a row at home including a 2-1 win over Monterrey (3W 4D 2L) last time. In the game, Xolos’ defense increased and was able to thwart the powerful Rayados attack as well as the Puebla (3W 1D 5L) offense which was starting to show hope.
The bad news is Tijuana’s lack of goalscoring. Their seven goals scored is the second worst in the league, ahead of only Necaxa (2W 2D 5L, 6 goals scored) and they have absolutely no scoring threat. Gone are Ariel Nahuelpán and Camilo Sanvezzo and Miller Bolaños in uncertainty. Left is Bryan Angulo and Fabián Castillo who are serviceable, but don’t pose the same type of threat as the aforementioned attackers.
(Editor’s note: Upon publication, FOX Deportes reported that Xolos had seven positive cases of COVID-19, four of which were players and three on technical staff – including Pablo Guede.)
Cruz Azul doesn’t have that problem. Jonathan Rodríguez is on fire, scoring seven goals so far in this tournament and nine goals in the shortened Clausura 2020, but he is not their only goal scorer threat. Santiago Giménez and Juan Escobar both have two goals this season, and Piojo Alvarado, Yoshimar Yotún and Milton Caraglio have also posed scoring threats.
However, the difference between Cruz Azul and others is that they are also strong in defense. Robert Dante Siboldi’s team conceded just six goals, which is right behind León (5W 3D 1L, five goals conceded). Goalkeeper José Corona may be approaching the age of 40, but he and his defense have closed three straight opponents and conceded multiple goals just once, in a 3-2 win over FC Juárez (2W 4D 3L).
While it is easy to write down this as Cruz Azul’s win, Xolos is very good at home and handles business against a strong team. And never forget that Liga MX is meaningless if unpredictable.
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