Cruz Azul defeats Chicago Fire and advances to the Leagues Cup semifinals
The inaugural match of the Leagues Cup, saw Cruz Azul defeat the Chicago Fire 2-0 in front of 12 thousand fans which 90 percent of them appeared to be Cementero loyalist at Toyota Park.
La Maquina came into this game as favorites despite their not so great start to their Liga MX season after a scoreless match against Necaxa. Also, Chicago was coming into this game on bad stretch having lost three out of their last four games.
It was a one-sided match for the first 45 minutes. Cruz Azul dominated the first half and embarrassed the home team on the statistics. La Maquina possessed 74 percent of the ball and had six shots on goal and three on target compared to the Fire who had none.
Cruz Azul took the lead late in the first half when at the 43rd minute Roberto El Piojo Alvarado scored a golazo following a throw-in which allowed the ball to make its way inside the small box only for Alvarado to score on a scissor-kick like play.
Milton Caraglio had an opportunity to increase the lead in the last minute of the first half. Following a mistake from Chicago’s goalkeeper Richard Sanchez, while trying to clear the ball, Caraglio was unable to capitalize and shot the ball right back to Sanchez.
In the second half, Chicago made some adjustments to their line up. The moves opened up the field and forced the matchup to turn into a back and forth game. The Fire created a couple of opportunities as they tried to even things out. Fortunately for Cruz Azul, Jesus Chuy Corona had everything under control.
Elias Hernandez came into the game in the 87th minute, and three minutes later, scored the goal that gave Pedro Caixinha’s men the 2-0 lead. With the victory, Cruz Azul punches their ticket to the Leagues Cup semifinals. They will play the winner of the Galaxy vs. Xolos game from later today on August 20th.
