CARSON, Calif. - The best attacking team in InterLiga 2006 thus
far ensured a spot in Sunday's finals.
Tigres routed Cruz Azul 4-0 in the first match of Tuesday's Group
B doubleheader at The Home Depot Center. Tigres finished the group
stage with an astounding 10 goals and are just one victory away from
returning to Copa Libertadores for the second consecutive year.
Cruz Azul, meanwhile, left plenty to be desired. The 2001
Libertadores runners-up had one of the strongest lineups but managed
just a draw from three games. Worse, the cementeros failed to score
in two games despite boasting the talented scoring duo of Francisco
"Kikin" Fonseca and Cesar "Chelito" Delgado.
Aldo De Nigris, who scored four goals in the first two matches,
was kept off the scoreboard but it mattered little. Julio Cesar
Santos, Sebastian "Chamagol" Gonzalez and Walter Gaitan picked up
the scoring slack for Tigres with one goal apiece in the first 45
minutes.
Entering Tuesday's games, Cruz Azul had a chance of advancing
despite having just one point. Despite needing a victory, and a
lopsided one at that, it was Tigres who got on the scoreboard first.
In the 17th minute, Santos tapped a loose ball into the net after
the ball bounced around inside the box on a corner kick. It was the
third time in as many games that Tigres opened the scoring.
Cruz Azul nearly leveled terms three minutes later but a diving
Edgar Hernandez stopped Tomas Campos' well-struck 22-yard free kick.
Campos again nearly broke through in the 32nd minute. Gerardo
Torrado sent a well-placed ball in Campos' path but he could not
find an open teammate and Hernandez stopped Campos' centering pass.
Tigres seemingly put the game out of reach in the 33rd minute.
Gonzalez buried a 15-yard shot in the right corner of the net.
Gonzalez, who was making his Tigres debut, took a feed from Sixto
Peralta, shook himself loose from Cruz Azul's defense and unloaded a
cannon. Gonzalez, who came over from Atlante, had served the final
game of a four-game suspension Saturday for an incident in last
year's InterLiga while with Atlante.
Cruz Azul again put Tigres' defense to the test in the 40th
minute. Again, Campos was open on the left side and again he fired a
ball into the area. This time, the ball bounced around to Gabriel
Pereyra, who was surrounded by four Tigres defenders. Somehow, he
found Torrado alone on top of the area but Hernandez stopped the
Mexican international's shot.
Just one minute later, Gonzalez and Gaitan hooked up on a
magnificent play. Gaitan got the ball in the middle of the field and
carried it into Cruz Azul's third. He sent a perfect pass to the
right flank toward Gonzalez, who then fired a ball just inside the
penalty area. Gaitan did well to stay onside and sent a laser beam
into the back of the net.
In less than one half of play, Tigres had matched its goal output
from each of the previous two games.
Gaitan put the exclamation mark on the rout in the 56th minute.
He beat Cruz Azul defender Joel Huiqui to a ball on the edge of Cruz
Azul's defensive third and did well to shield Huiqui from the ball
as he carried it into the area then unleashed a shot from just
inside the box, easily beating Cruz Azul keeper Gonzalez.
The win matched the most lopsided victory in the two-year history
of InterLiga, set in 2005 when Chiapas demolished Necaxa by 4-0 at
The Home Depot Center.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to InterLiga.com. This
story was not subject to the approval of the league or its
clubs.
TIGRES - CRUZ AZUL 4:0
(3:0)
01.10.2006: Carson, California; Home Depot
Center
Attendance: 26,253
Scoring summary:
TIG- Julio Cesar Santos
(17'), Sebastián Gonzalez (33'), Walter Gaitan (41', 56')
CRU-
None
TIG: 1- Edgar Hernandez (GK), 3- Sydney
Balderas, 5- Julio Cesar Santos, 6- Omar Briceńo, 10- Walter Gaitan
(28- Carlos A. Morales, 75'), 13- Antonio Sancho (19- Juan Montano,
68'), 17- Jesús Palacios, 18- Sixto Peralta, 21- Jaime Lozano, 9-
Sebastián Gonzalez, 11- Aldo De Nigris (22- Nestor Silvera, 80')
DNP / No jugaron: 25- Rogelio Rodríguez (GK), 23- Javier
Saavedra, 53- Jesús Chavez, 54- Luis Garcia
TD: Ricardo Ferreti
CRU: 12- Emmanuel Gonzalez (GK), 2- Ricardo
Osorio, 3-Jorl Huiqui, 5- Denis Caniza, 6-Gerardo Torrado, 8-Tomas
Campos, 10- Gabriel Pereyra (14-Adrian Sanchez, 67'), 20- Alberto
Rodríguez (16-Rogelio Chavez, 46'), 21-John Restrepo, 19- Cesar
Delgado (11- Miguel Sabah, 13'), 26-Francisco Fonseca
DNP / No jugaron: 1-Oscar Perez (GK), 17- Alajandro Corono,
96-Edgar Andrade, 101- Cesar Villaluz
TD: Isaac Mizrahi
Cingular Man of the Match: Walter Gaitan
(Tigres)
Booked:
TIG - Sancho (28'), Peralta
(37')
CRU - Torrado (43'), Pereyra (59'), Osorio (67')
Sent off: None
Statistics
TIG CRU
Goal Attempts 8 10
Saves 6 3
Fouls 18 6
Corners 3 11
Offsides 4 3
R: Michael Kennedy (USA)
A1: Miguel Chicas (USA)
A2: Paul
Scott (USA)
FO: Ricardo Salazar (USA)