Cruz Azul defeats Tigres 2-1 in the Leagues Cup Final
Tigres has been desperately looking for an international cup. After multiple attempts and coming up short, they come short once again versus La Maquina de Cruz Azul.
The first half was very physical as you can see both teams wanted this trophy given that it was the first Leagues Cup final and there is a bit of rivalry as far as titles in Liga MX. Tigres has seven titles to Cruz Azul’s eight titles; however, Cruz Azul has been in a drought for over 22 years.
The first goal did not come until the second half in the 73rd minute. After a free-kick attempt and a hold by Tigres captain Pizarro to give Cruz Azul a penalty.
2 minutes later, La Maquina scored a second goal after juking goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman to make it a commanding 2-0 lead.
This second goal got the crowd rallied up into the match and made it also feel like a Cruz Azul home game.
In the 89th minute, Pizarro gave Tigres life with a header to make it a 2-1 score. This is when Cruz Azul started to worry as the famous “Cruzazulear” curse began to be said by the game commentators and the Cruz Azul fans were most likely having flashbacks of past occasions when they have blown games in the last minutes.
It was a close match and the referee added 4 minutes to the clock for extra time. Tigres continued to dominate the ball and Cruz Azul parked the bus as expected. The game continued to get more physical, Edgar Mendez and Nahuel Guzman both went for a ball and as Nahuel was walking back to his goal area, he elbowed Edgar Mendez. The referee stopped the game and had VAR check the play. The replayed showed the evidence needed to send Nahuel with a red card.
There was no more time left and Pizarro took over as goalkeeper as Tigres was out of substitutions but that did not matter as the referee ended the game seconds after the ball was back in play to give Cruz Azul the first Leagues Cup title and leave Tigres once again, empty-handed of yet another international title defeat.
2019 Leagues Cup champion
Leagues Cup tournament afterthoughts:
Since this tournament did not have the success that people were expecting and was supposed to replace the Copa Libertadores tournament I wonder if this tournament will remain in the next 5-10 years. I did not feel like they marketed the tournament well enough and they scheduled a great game on a Wednesday in Las Vegas in a college football stadium. Do you think this tournament will get better with time? Will they make the games at a better time to grab more audience?
