GUADALAJARA, Mexico – There was plenty to smile about for the Americans plying their trade south of the Rio Grande this weekend.
On Sunday, DaMarcus Beasley helped Puebla to their first win of the Liga MX, Apertura 2012, going 90 minutes in his team's 1-0 victory over San Luis.
Beasley was dangerous on the left wing for Puebla and battled against Michael Orozco Fiscal, who started the game at right back, before shifting to his usual center back role in the second half.
Club Tijuana's Edgar Castillo and Joe Corona returned to the Estadio Azteca 10 days after featuring in the United States' 1-0 victory over Mexico and repeated the feat with their club. Xolos overcame Club América 1-0, with Corona going 80 minutes and Castillo completing the full game.
On a more negative note, left back Castillo appeared to pull a muscle 15 minutes from the end of the game and was a virtual spectator from then on with Tijuana coach Antonio Mohamed having already used his three substitutions.
The victory moved border club Tijuana into second place in the Liga MX.
In the Estadio Hidalgo, José Torres returned from injury for his first game since playing with the US national team and completed the full 90 minutes in Pachuca's 0-0 draw against Santos Laguna.
Torres was one of the star performers for the Tuzos with his intelligent passing in central midfield, but Pachuca's forwards missed a number of chances to take the victory.
For Santos, Herculez Gomez dressed but did not feature against his old club.
In Mexico's second division, Sonny Guadarrama scored the only goal in the 71st minute for Mérida in their 1-0 win over Toros Neza. Guadarrama had replaced former Chivas USA forward Juan Pablo García in the 10th.
Marco Vidal played the complete game for Lobos BUAP in their 2-1 win over Veracruz, which lifted them to third place in the Ascenso MX.
In El Salvador, Derby Carrillo kept his third consecutive clean sheet for Santa Tecla, who drew 0-0 against Águila.
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
