GUADALAJARA, Mexico – It was a mostly positive bag of results for American players plying their trade south of the border this weekend.
The highlight came in the Estadio Caliente on Saturday night, where US U-23 star Joe Corona got what turned out to be the winning goal for Club Tijuana in their 2-1 victory over Atlante.
Corona brought the ball under control and fired home in one swift movement in the 20th minute, scoring perhaps his best goal yet in Mexico's Primera División. He went 70 minutes, while Edgar Castillo continued his consistently good form this season with another full game on the left flank.
Texan Sonny Guadarrama came on for Atlante in the 75th, his second appearance of the season.
In Puebla's Estadio Cuauhtémoc on Sunday, DaMarcus Beasley – a constant menace on the left wing – smashed in La Franja's equalizing goal in his team's 2-1 win against Toluca. It was Beasley's fourth goal of what has been another impressive season so far, helping keep a struggling Puebla side afloat.
José Torres' Pachuca, meanwhile, took a giant step toward the playoff spots on Sunday, winning 1-0 against Pumas UNAM in the Estadio Olímpico. Torres played the full game and provided the assist for the only goal, whipping in a corner that was headed in.
It wasn't such a good weekend for Michael Orozco Fiscal, whose San Luis leaked three goals for the third consecutive game, losing 3-2 at home to Jaguares. Orozco Fiscal played the full game for los Gladiadores at center back, but defensive problems again plagued the defense.
Down in Mexico's second division, Jesús Padilla was sent off in the 31st minute for La Piedad in their 2-1 loss to Universidad de Guadalajara.
Jeff Cunningham got a weekend off, with no games scheduled in Guatemala's first division.
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America. E-mail him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
