GUADALAJARA, Mexico — If you plan to watch any games involving Americans playing in Mexico this weekend, it may be best to clear your Friday night schedule.
Puebla are relying even more heavily on American winger DaMarcus Beasley to provide inspiration this season, but he is still on the recovery trail from a preseason injury and then getting hacked down in the first game of the season against Club Tijuana.
Without a point to show from their first two games, Puebla’s match against Herculez Gomez and Santos Laguna at the Estadio Corona is probably not ideal place to start. Both Yanks are set to start (Friday, 8 pm ET, Univision Deportes 2).
Also Friday, Club Tijuana’s yanqui trio of Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona and Greg Garza should notch up some minutes between them against a strong Pumas team in the border city (8:30 pm ET, Univision Deportes).
The final game on Friday is Morelia against San Luis, who boast Michael Orozco Fiscal in their ranks. The former Philadelphia Union defender scored last weekend but would probably settle for the team picking up a first point of the season on Friday (10:30 pm ET, ESPN Deportes).
On Saturday, Jonathan Bornstein will hope for playing time when Tigres UANL travel to Atlas (10 pm ET, Univision Deportes). He was set to play for Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday, but a red card dating all the way back to 2008, when he was with Chivas USA, ruled him out.
US international midfielder José Francisco Torres will miss Pachuca´s trip to Querétaro on Saturday (6 pm ET, Univision Deportes). He is suspended after his red card last weekend.
In the Ascenso MX, Mérida duo Sonny Guadarrama and Isaac Acuña host Irapuato (Saturday, 7 pm ET), Adrian Ruelas and Veracruz play La Piedad (Sunday, 5 pm ET) and Marco Vidal's Lobos BUAP face Dorados de Sinaloa (Saturday, 9 pm ET).
Further south in Colombia, it is a massive Sunday for American goalkeeper Kevin Piedrahita, who is set to debut for new club Itaguí against Atlético Nacional (8:45 pm ET). In Bolivia, Alejandro Meleán could also be in action, with his Oriente Petrolero team playing The Strongest on Sunday (6 pm ET).
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
