A brief interruption from the David Beckham goodbye tour to bring you a note that Club Tijuana will meet Toluca Thursday night in the first leg of the Liga MX final.
Club TJ, as well like to call them, is something of a Cinderella story and also boasts three Americans: Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona, and Greg Garza (as well as youth product Alejandro Guido).
A smart article from Tom Marshall explains how Tijuana managed to come back from a 2-0 deficit after the first leg: “The 3-0 victory last Sunday was a lesson in controlled attacking football and in managing a game over the 90 minutes. Few gave the Xolos a chance of coming back pregame, but the team has Mexico’s best defence over the last two regular seasons as a platform to build from. There was no gung-ho forward surge, just consistent pressure and solidity at the back that reaped rewards on the artificial turf of the Estadio Caliente.”
Corona agrees with Senor Marshall:
“The whole team knew it wasn’t over [after the first leg], and that we still had a lot of chances of passing to the final. Coach [Antonio Mohamed] made us believe that we were still alive, and he set up a very offensive squad because we needed two goals. Our strategy was to come out offensive, but we knew we had to be patient.”
Anyhow, if you need a little soccer tide-me-over before Saturday night’s affair du Beckham, get involved. 10 p.m. ET on Univision Deportes