Argentine coach Nicolás Larcamón’s Cruz Azul played to a goalless draw at the home of his compatriot Gabriel Milito’s Chivas de Guadalajara on Thursday, in the quarterfinals of the Apertura Mexican soccer tournament.
In the first leg of the first leg of the round of eight, the Blue and Whites and the Red-and-Whites both had opportunities to open the scoring, but lacked the ability to score in the box.
Chivas dominates and Cruz Azul responds
Goalkeeper Andrés Gudiño appeared a couple of times to keep a clean sheet and ensure that Cruz Azul did not miss injured Colombian Kevin Mier, their starting goalkeeper.
Goal scorer Armando González led the Chivas offense, better in the first half, against an opponent with good combinations of Argentinians José Paradela and Carlos Rotondi.
In the second half, Cruz Azul’s performance improved, especially at the end of the match, when Jeremy Márquez headed with everything in his favor, but missed.
In stoppage time, Guadalajara had a chance to win the game through Miguel Gómez, who accepted a ball in the box, but shot poorly with his head.
La Maquina takes advantage for the return leg
The draw favors Cruz Azul because it only needs a draw in the second leg of the series on Sunday.
In that case, the series would be tied and the light-blue team would qualify for the semifinals by virtue of finishing higher in the regular phase standings.
Guadalajara-Cruz Azul was the only scoreless duel at the start of the quarterfinals.
This followed Monterrey’ s 2-0 win over América, Tijuana’s 3-0 win over Tigres UANL and Toluca’s 1-2 win over Juárez FC.
On Saturday, América will host Monterrey, Tigres will host Tijuana and Toluca will host Juárez.
On Sunday, the Celestes will play at their home stadium against Guadalajara.
With information from EFE
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