Veracruz vs. Tijuana: Highlights and box score

Tijuana could have clinched the superlider with a win or a tie, however a late own goal leaves them at the mercy of Pachuca and Tigres, while Veracruz got three crucial points in their fight to remain in Liga MX.

Los Tiburones got on the board first with this goal from Agustín Vuletich:

Kudos to Vuletich for the goal, but this was a result of several poor decisions by Xolos defenders. Michael Orozco should never have left his feet to attempt a slide tackle, and Vuletich was too easily lost by Juan Valenzuela (who Vuletich got the inside track on) and Damián Pérez, who never looked back to see where either Vuletich or Valenzuela were on the pitch.

The game devolved into a chippy affair, with plenty of hard fouls both called and uncalled. Veracruz players were shown three yellow cards before the half. It looked as though Tiburones were going to go into the half ahead until Dayro Moreno did this:

Moreno has been cold, scoring only twice in Xolos’ previous eight, however this pass from Avilés Hurtado was perfect, and Pedro Gallese made a huge mistake coming out that far for the ball.

Unfortunately for Xolos, Moreno would return to being ice cold. He rushed a couple of attempts and would not add to his league-leading eleventh goal. Tijuana was playing well and looked to be content to grind out a 1-1 draw until disaster struck late off of a corner kick:

This is as unlucky a goal as you’ll see. It doesn’t touch a Veracruz player, instead hitting Guido Rodriguez first before bouncing off of Michael Orozco and through the legs of Federico Vilar and in to seal Tijuana’s fate.

Tiburones: Pedro Gallese; Jesús Paganoni, Leobardo López, Horacio Cervántes (Rodrigo Noya - 46‘) , Lucas Rodríguez; Hugo Cid, Gabriel Peñalba, Daniel Villalva (Édgar Andrade - 69’), Adrián Luna; Agustín Vuletich (Juan Pérez - 46’), Julio Furch

Xolos: Federico Vilar; Michael Orozco, Juan Valenzuela, Emanuel Aguilera, Damián Pérez (Henry Martín - 90’), Alejandro Guido, Kevin Gutiérrez (Victor Malcorra - 40’), Gabriel Hauche (Juan Carlos Núñez - 77’), Avilés Hurtado, Dayro Moreno, Milton Caraglio

Scoring: Tiburones - Agustín Vuletich (7’), Michael Orozco (87’ - OG); Xolos - Dayro Moreno (37’)

Disciplinary: Tiburones - Adrián Luna (Yellow - 18’), Horacio Cervántes (Yellow - 41’), Julio Furch (Yellow - 43’), Daniel Villalva (Yellow - 52’), Gabriel Peñalba (Yellow - 88’); Xolos - Alejandro Guido (Yellow - 60’)