GUADALAJARA, Mexico — It was a largely disappointing weekend for Americans south of the border in Mexico.
The main exception was Sonny Guadarrama’s Atlante defeating Chivas 3-1, with the Texan putting in a tidy performance for los Potros. Playing on the left of a front three, Guadarrama provided a consistent outlet for the team’s attacks and his workrate caused problems for the Chivas defense.
Things weren’t so rosy for Santos Laguna, who fell 4-1 away at new Liga MX leaders Toluca on Sunday, with Herculez Gomez coming off the bench at halftime.
Gomez’s presence injected some much-needed urgency into the Santos Laguna attack, first on the right wing and later in the center, but mistakes in the defense led to the game slipping away from the reigning champions.
Also involved was Benji Joya, who came on in the 63rd minute and showed why he is increasingly being called on by coach Benjamín Galindo. His mazy and threatening runs down the right wing hurt Toluca and Joya put in dangerous crosses and won a number of freekicks for his team.
José Torres got the nod to start for Pachuca and completed 90 minutes in his team’s 1-1 home draw with Monterrey. Torres was left out of the last US national team squad but played well on Saturday, without dominating the midfield.
On Friday, Tijuana were held to a 2-2 draw with Cruz Azul in the Estadio Caliente, with Greg Garza playing the full game and Joe Corona came off the bench for the last 25 minutes. Garza was solid at left back and held his own when Mexican international Javier Aquino was moved to Cruz Azul’s right wing in the second half.
Puebla lost 2-0 against Jaguares on Friday without DaMarcus Beasley, who didn´t recover from a rib injury in time for the game, while Michael Orozco Fiscal wasn’t called into the 18-man squad in San Luis' 3-2 victory over Atlas.
In the Asceso MX, Marco Vidal went 81 minutes for Lobos BUAP, who moved to second in the league with the 2-0 victory over Pumas Morelos.
In El Salvador, Firpo won 2-0 against Santa Tecla, for whom Derby Carrillo played the full 90.
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
