GUADALAJARA, Mexico — It should be a busy weekend of action south of the border, with the Mexican league starting to take shape and Americans notching up playing time.
Club Tijuana are without Joe Corona, who is with the US Under-23 squad in Costa Rica, but will count on Edgar Castillo (above) and Greg Garza for their trip to Guadalajara to face a struggling Chivas (Saturday, 8 pm ET, Telemundo), for whom Sacramento, Calif.-born Miguel Ángel Ponce is likely to start after being on the bench last week.
The Xolos have gone 10 games unbeaten under coach Antonio Mohamed, while Chivas have lost their first two games of the season.
Michael Orozco Fiscal's San Luis, meanwhile, are in first place and will be hoping for three more points on the road against a tricky Morelia side on Friday (9 pm ET).
It has been a strange week for DaMarcus Beasley. He tweeted about tax authorities raiding Puebla's facilities last Friday and then he used the social network to relate stories of extortion during the week, but it's back to the pitch on Sunday when La Franja try to put off-the-field problems behind them against Sonny Guadarrama's Atlante (Sunday, 1 pm ET, Fox Deportes).
Los Tuzos of Pachuca and José Francisco Torres have a difficult game away at Cruz Azul (Saturday, 6 pm ET, ESPN Deportes), while his former Pachuca teammate, Herculez Gomez, and his Santos team host Jaguares (Saturday, 8 pm ET, TeleFutura).
Jonathan Bornstein's Tigres UANL play away at Toluca (Sunday, 1 pm ET).
In Mexico's second division, Jesus Padilla's La Piedad meet Veracruz (Saturday, 5 pm ET).
Goalkeeper Diego Restrepo could make his debut in the Venezuelan first division on Friday when Deportivo Táchira play Deportivo Petare (7 pm ET).
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America. He can be reached via tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
