Perhaps I should have seen Atlante's result coming last night. Cruz Azul were without two of their primary midfielders in Gerardo Torrado and Cristián Riveros, which would have reduced the team's ability to dominate the midfield. Even so, I was surprised by two things: Cruz Azul's lack of urgency for a majority of the game, and Atlante's decision to take the game to La Máquina. Márquez Lugo on the left and Navarro on the right tore Cruz Azul's back line apart in the first half, and Vilar became Atlante's most important player in the second. By the time Cruz Azul responded and assumed a dominant role it was already too late.
I liked both Atlante goals, but my favorite had to be Navarro's opener, for the combination play with Márquez Lugo and the audacious flicks that opened up the Celeste defense and resulted in the goal. That's a goal worthy to be scored in a final, as Medio Tiempo's summary stated.
So can Cruz Azul score three goals without reply in Cancún? One would think that a side that can lose to Joe Public at home can also lose to Cruz Azul, but I believe that match was an accident. Since then, they beat Montreal in a hard-fought match, and then defeated Houston and Santos quite comfortably at home. (Okay, the Santos game was more difficult because of the aggregate goal requirement.) Cruz Azul will have their suspended midfielders back for next Wednesday's match, so I can see them scoring one goal in Cancún, but it will be difficult for them to score three.
So even though Atlante manager José Cruz is making the right noises about Cruz Azul still being alive, he has to be feeling very good about his team's chances of appearing in Dubai later this year.
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