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Game: Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente vs. Club León
Date: Saturday, November 26th
Time: 10:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM Pacific
Venue: Estadio Caliente
Television: United States - Azteca America; Mexico - SKY Planeta Fútbol, Azteca 7, Sky HD
Streaming: Sling TV
After a 3-0 beating in the opening match of the Liguilla, Tijuana has a huge hill to climb tonight as they host León in the second leg of the quarterfinals. Not having won in their last three, Xolos looked completely helpless against León on Wednesday. They managed just one shot on goal and never really threatened offensively.
It won't be smooth sailing for León however. They still must head to Tijuana and hold off Xolos, who lost only once at home during the Apertura. Xolos manager Miguel Herrera told the press “It’s a tough score to overcome but there are 90 minutes left. The important thing is for the team to continue with the motivation to overcome it.”
Herrera also went on to say “We received three goals and we can score three goals.” He said Xolos focus would be on maintaining possession, something they did precious little of in the first match. “We didn’t have the ball in the last game,” El Piojo continued. “We didn’t have any scoring chances. If we want to be an offensive and effective team, we first need to have the ball.”
León’s leading scorer Mauro Boselli left Wednesday’s match injured in the 78th minute, however reports say he has been practicing as normal and is expected to play. Tijuana will have to do much better at defensive marking, as all three goals by La Fiera came as a result of defensive breakdowns in the eighteen yard box.
León on the other hand must look to maintain their dominance defensively. Tijuana is an immensely talented team and are perfectly capable of pulling out a result, however if León can frustrate Xolos by maintaining possession and forcing turnovers, then it could go south very quickly for Tijuana.