By Edgardo Avelar
19 Oct 2024, 02:18 AM EDT
The “Celestial Machine” of Cruz Azul became the leader of the Apertura 2024 tournament tonight at the Cuauhtémoc stadium in Puebla by beating the Camoteros del Puebla 1-2, on a night where the cement team recovered from the failure of a penalty by Jorge Sánchez to add their tenth competition victory.
In fact, the celestials had the first great opportunity to get ahead on the scoreboard in the 26th minute, but Jorge Sánchez’s failure complicated the rest of the first half for the squad led by Martín Anselmi, who was able to straighten the path until the 49th minute of the first half when Giorgios Giakoumakis finished off a long cross from Gonzalo Piovi to put the 1-0.
A cement victory that allows them to reach 31 points taking six points away from Toluca, its closest pursuer, and if Tigres could beat Rayados de Monterrey this Saturday in the royal classic, it would reach 27 units and the distance that the Cruz Azul squad would maintain would be four points.
Besides, The victory at the Cuauhtémoc stadium maintained an eight-year control of Cruz Azul over the Pueblans with the fourth victory in the last seven games since 2016, when the team from the strip won 2-1 at home.
But the happiness lasted just three minutes. when in the same extension of the first half when Gonzalo Piovi himself made a childish mistake in the cement exit by giving the ball on a golden platter to the Colombian Luis Quiñones who without hesitation put a shot over the top that beat goalkeeper Kevin Mier to tie 1-1.
For the second half Cruz Azul maintained control of the match and that dominance was reaffirmed in the 71st minute when, through another maximum penalty for some hands inside the area by a Puebla defender, it allowed Argentine Carlos Rodolfo Rotondi to score the second goal to reaffirm the 1-2 victory.
Other results
In other results from day 12, Xolos de Tijuana won 1-2 as a visitor to Necaxa with goals from Christian Rivera and Kevin Castañeda, while Necaxa’s goal was scored by Argentine José Paradela.
Besides, Atlas tied at home with the Cañoneros de Mazatlán 0-0 and finally Toluca defeated Querétaro on another team’s field 0-1.
Continue reading:
-Cruz Azul one step away from reinforcing its arsenal for the league
-Cruz Azul seeks to maintain leadership against Puebla and Tigres to get closer to the top
-Cruz Azul with an ace up its sleeve to avoid the fine in the minor rule