In the middle of the week, Cruz Azul was surprised and lost the undefeated in the Apertura 2024, but the team is not ready for regrets and already wants to turn the page because today they will have to face a tough match against Chivas, on date nine of the championship, said Argentine Rodolfo Rotondi.
After seven games without defeat, the Machine unexpectedly fell (3-1) against a San Luis team, which had just lost two of its last three games.
Despite the defeat, the cement producers remain at the top of the general table with 19 units.
“It’s part of the game, we knew that at some point defeat could come,” Rotondi said at a press conference, “It was a bucket of cold water, an accident because there were balls in the sticks. But already, a game was lost, but we continue as a leader, we have to focus now on Chivas, which will be a great game too,” he pointed out.
“Chivas is a strong rival, they have just won their last game and will be a dangerous rival, we must be focused,” Rotondi continued. “If we analyze the last game (in the capital) he played a great game, he was the protagonist and beat America, although he had little forcefulness, but he is a rival with whom we must be careful,” he concluded.
Despite the painful setback, this tournament Cruz Azul is confirming the great work of its coach, the Argentine Martín Anselmi, and is positioning itself as one of the strongest candidates to win the championship.
“You feel a very nice connection between the leaders, the people, the fans and the coaching staff, in addition to the players,” the strategist accepted. “We already had it close last tournament, now we are going to fight for it,” concluded Anselmi.
For its part, Guadalajara recovered after losing the National Classic against América, and in the middle of the week they beat León 2-0 at home.
The squad led by also Argentine Fernando Gago reached 14 points, which serves to place itself in fifth place.
America, without excuses
Tenth place in the standings, when the tournament is close to reaching its halfway point, is not a place America is used to placing, but according to André Jardine, its coach, all that is about to change.
After recovering several injured players, the Águilas will seek to achieve their third consecutive victory when they visit Necaxa tonight to get into the league zone.
The Coapa team was affected by injuries to several of its players at the start of the championship, however, Jardine knows that there are no excuses in his team.
“Here we played the last two leagues and we reached the final, we played the Super Cup, in addition to the Champion of Champions, you accumulate more games and that makes it more complicated for us, there is also a FIFA date and the players are going to compete. These injuries are not a coincidence,” highlighted the Brazilian coach.
Since the start of the tournament, the azulcrema have had to overcome many losses due to injury. The strongest was Chilean defender Igor Lichnovsky, who tore his ligaments and was out for the entire tournament.
In addition, American forward Alejandro Zendejas, Uruguayan defender Sebastián Cáceres, Chilean midfielder Diego Valdés and, recently, defender Israel Reyes have all been injured.
“There is no need to regret because this is the reality, we have to recover them,” he added. “That is the challenge for America and the big teams that have national team players. We are going to continue competing for titles, but it is not easy, I assure you it is not.”
Little by little, the Eagles have recovered important pieces facing the most important part of the tournament.
In recent weeks, players like Rodrigo Aguirre, Javairo Dilrosun, Alejandro Zendejas, Kevin Álvarez have joined the group and now it will be the turn of Diego Valdés, who, according to his coach, is already ready to return to the fields.— AP
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