Aviles Hurtado was excellent, exactly the player Tijuana needed to break a hex that seemed unbreakable. Tijuana absorbed pressure from Leon and eventually got forward to dish out their own punishment. Tijuana could've easily been stung by the early blow but instead stayed to Miguel Herrera's game plan, even when Michael Orozco left injured in the 20th minute. Andres "Rifle" Andrade picked off a pass and headed quickly toward Tijuana's goal, moving the ball wide for Elias Hernandez in a goal so lovely you'll have to find it below in our Goal of the Week selection. Minutes into Saturday's contest, it looked like Xolos were in for more of the same. Prior to this weekend, Tijuana had visited Leon's Camp Nou six times for a league match and lost all six. TIJUANA CAN END CURSES AS LEON'S DEFENSIVE ISSUES RETURN We started well, that's what is important.Īnd while Chivas snatched a point in stoppage-time Sunday, the fact that Santos is playing like a team that will be back in the play-offs after last tournament's dismal 16th-place finish is testament to the work Chepo and his staff are doing in the Clausura. This is a team that's in it for the long haul this tournament. There's great communication and they've understood things really well. Last tournament we had to put in a lot of work, little by little the players were adjusting to thing.
"There's a great project happening at Santos," he continued. "The team is very committed, playing good soccer, that's what has the whole coaching staff feeling happy." "The key has been player selection," said Santos assistant Benjamin Galindo, speaking instead of de la Torre because of the coach's sending off. Ulises Rivas staying in front of them frees up Osvaldo Martinez to get forward and create opportunities for Furch and Jonathan Rodriguez. Next to Araujo, Carlos Izquierdoz is providing consistency as well. The base of the team is their defence, where centre-back Nestor Araujo looks every bit the player ready to move to Europe that Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio endorsed him to be. Last tournament was a disappointment for fans in Torreon, but coach Chepo de la Torre's signings in the close season bringing in league veterans like Furch but also handing big roles to homegrown players like full-backs Gerardo Arteaga and Jorge Sanchez have paid dividends. Chivas already had been in control for most of the match, with a near-comical scene occurring just before the halftime break when Santos goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco made a pair of saves in quick sucession but left his goal open in doing so only for Chivas to hit the crossbar when it would've been easier to score.īut Julio Furch's goal from a 58th-minute corner changed things. While Santos was only able to hold on to a draw with 10 men thanks to a heads-up play from Rodolfo Pizarro to head in a ball that could've stayed out like the one before the break, the away draw in the Estadio Chivas showed that the team has staying power. That's more than it looked like the Guerreros would muster after Diego De Buen was sent off in the 70th minute, just five minutes after coming on, with coach Chepo de la Torre joining him early in the locker room soon after.
Santos didn't come out of Round 5 with a victory, but they did come out with their undefeated record in tact. Goal takes a look at those and the other things we learned right off the bat: 'OMG I love you Tom Brady!' - football world reacts as New England Patriots win Super Bowl LI
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