Cruz Azul & Necaxa Squander Penalty Opportunites And End In Scoreless Draw
Cruz Azul and Necaxa played to a scoreless draw in a game with multiple uses of the Video Assistance Replay (VAR) in Aguascalientes.
Coming off their most recent match in the Super
The game began with a clear dominance by Los Cementeros who controlled the midfield and pushed the ball into their attacking third of the field for the first 15 minutes of play. The first clear opportunity towards goal came from the boys in blue during the 12th minute as Adrian Aldrete left a ball for Yoshimar Yotun who sent a thunderous shot towards goal but was blocked by Hugo Gonzalez.
In the 27th minute, La Maquina was awarded a penalty kick after a questionable call from the referee. After a call from officials in the replay booth, the referee viewed the monitor and later determined that it was not a penalty and waved off the call.
In the 41st minute, Elias Hernandez squandered an opportunity to help Cruz Azul take the lead before the half but his shot was sent straight into a Rayos defender. This was the last crucial play of the first half which sent both teams scoreless into the half.
The second half began with another penalty called in favor of Cruz Azul and a visit to the VAR monitor. This time the referee had to use the VAR monitor in order to make the call as it was not initially whistled by him on the field.
Milton Caraglio was the man in charge for Los Cementeros to take the penalty kick, he took the shot and was blocked by Hugo Gonzalez. The keeper left the ball bounce off his hands and a charging Edgar Mendez shot the rebound and scored the first goal for Cruz Azul in the 52nd minute.
Unfortunately for Cruz Azul the referee was called to the monitor for the third time in this game and decided that Mendez came into the box too early and disallowed the goal for La Maquina.
For the following 20 minutes of play, the game was a battle in the midfield as both teams lost the ball carelessly and took lazy shots, not creating much damage.
In the 70th minute, Necaxa created a breakaway opportunity that saw Maxi Salas get taken down right on the 18-yard box line. The referee awarded a penalty in favor of Los Rayos and gave a red card to Julio Cesar “El Cata” Dominguez.
Salas took the penalty kick and did a hesitation move that took Jesus Corona out of the play, leaving a side of the goal exposed but Salas takes the shot and sends it over the crossbar, missing the last great opportunity of the game for both teams.
The game ended in a scoreless draw, as neither team could take advantage of the few opportunities created in the game.
Cruz Azul will now face the Chicago Fire midweek in the Leagues Cup in Chicago, and Necaxa will visit Pumas in the Estadio Olimpico Universitario.
