WIDE OPEN SERIES IN QUARTERFINALS

WIDE OPEN SERIES IN QUARTERFINALS

TIJUANA –Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente and Club Deortivo Toluca opened the LIGA Bancomer MX-2014 Clausura quarterfinals series with a scoreless tie Thursday May 1 at Estadio Caliente.


The Xoloitzcuinntles penetrated the area, controlled territory and ball possession but it couldn’t find the back of the net. Club Tijuana kept the rival from scoring in a tight series in which the Xoloitzcuintles will have a chance to score in the second leg of the home and home series. A win or a 1-1 tie would send Club Tijuana into the semifinal with the away goal tiebreaker.


Xoloitcuintles head coach Cesar Farias sent Cirilo Saucedo as the starting goalkeeper and he was rarely rattled but kept the rival from scoring when Toluca sporadically attacked his goal. Saucedo got help from his starting defensive line made up of Javier Gandolfi and Hernan Pellerano as the central defenders. Juan Carlos Nuñez and Edgar Castillo were the right and left backs. Both helped on the offensive end as well. Castillo nearly scored in the 70th minute on a pass by Dario Benedetto.


Javier Guemez, Cristin Pellerano and Fernando Arccec stared at midfield and the game was theirs. The midfielders controlled the game tempo against a tightly defending Toluca team. The midfielders created a handful of scoring opportunities and threatening plays when they constantly connected with strikers Richard Ruiz, Fidel Martinez and Benedetto.


Benedetto had a one-on-one play against Toluca goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera and tried to flick a shot over his head but went over the crossbar two minutes into the match. Ruiz sent a shot at goal in the 8th minute but Talavera slapped it down in the small box and kept it from rolling past the goal line. Ruiz would also send a shot just over the crossbar scrapping the top of the net in the 67th minute and sent another shot to the hands of Talavera in the 77th minute. Martinez also nearly scored. He sent a blast from left to right zooming inches from the post in the 24th minute.


Farias sent Joe Corona (80th minute), Juan Hernandez (84th) and Herculez Gomez (88th) as substitutes to continue his offensive strategy and keep the ball in enemy territory until the final whistle of the first 90 minutes of the series.


The Xoloitzcuintles will now focus on preparing for the second leg of the series to be played Sunday May 4 at Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca.