GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Club Tijuana and Cruz Azul both fell to MLS opposition in the CONCACAF Champions League midweek and will now face each other on Saturday in Mexico City (7 pm ET, ESPN DOS, Univision) in Liga MX.
Greg Garza was the only American to go the full 90 minutes for Xolos in Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy, but he could be rested Saturday after he picked up an injury late in the game.
Herculez Gomez, Joe Corona, Edgar Castillo, Paul Arriola and Alejandro Guido – who debuted last week – could all feature for Tijuana against the Liga MX leaders, for whom Michael Farfan is in contention for minutes.
Xolos will head back to Tijuana after the game to await Tuesday’s visit from the Galaxy, while Cruz Azul will remain in Mexico City to face off against MLS champions Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday.
It is another big weekend for Jose Torres, who started, scored and impressed against Cruz Azul last week. His Tigres UANL face DaMarcus Beasley's and Michael Orozco Fiscal’s struggling Puebla, with both teams desperate for points to make a late playoff run (Sunday, 2 pm ET, ESPN Deportes, Azteca America).
Gabriel Farfan has made a very solid start to his career in Mexico with Chiapas and will take on Club América – the team he spent two years with as a youth – in Estadio Víctor Manuel Reyna on Saturday (11 pm ET, Univision Deportes).
Atlante’s Jonathan Bornstein could also see minutes when his Atlante side travels to Mexico City to face Pumas UNAM (Sunday, 2 pm ET, Univision).
In Mexico’s second division, Sonny Guadarrama's and Ventura Alvarado’s Necaxa are at Ballenas Galeana (8 pm ET), while Marco Vidal's and Daniel Cuevas’ Lobos BUAP travel to Delfines del Carmen (9 pm ET).
On Sunday, Jose Villarreal’s Cruz Azul Hidalgo host to Estudiantes Tecos (2 pm ET).
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
