GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Paul Arriola made an immediate impact for Club Tijuana on Saturday, netting his first goal for the club just three minutes after coming off the bench, although a late goal handed Monterrey a 2-1 victory at Estadio Tecnológico in Liga MX play.
Arriola charged to the edge of the area in the 88th minute, where fellow American Edgar Castillo stepped over the ball, taking the defender away and sending the 18-year-old through to bury it into the corner of the net.
It was a short but busy appearance from Arriola, who was also yellow-carded for a late tackle in the 87th. The former LA Galaxy Academy product replaced Joe Corona, who started on the right wing for Xolos and had a couple of decent long-range efforts in the 20th and 25th, both of which were saved by Jonathan Orozco.
Castillo also started for Tijuana and aside from the good awareness for the goal, he also came close to opening the scoring five minutes before halftime, when he burst past Mexico international Jesús Zavala into the penalty area, but his low shot went wide.
The fourth Yank to see action for Xolos was Greg Garza, who entered in the 80th and made some positive runs down the left.
On Friday evening, Jose Torres went the full 90 minutes for Tigres UANL, who were in control of the game for majority but fell 3-0 to Santos Laguna’s sharp, incisive counters. The Texan couldn’t unlock the compact defense of Los Guerreros, despite seeing a lot of the ball.
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America for MLSsoccer.com. Contact him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
