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Game: Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente vs. Club de Fútbol Pachuca
Date: Friday, March 16th
Time: 8:00 PM Pacific, 9:00 PM Central, 11:00 PM Eastern (Note that times listed are for the United States. Mexico has not switched to Daylight Saving Time, so Mexican time zones will be one hour behind)
Venue: Estadio Caliente (Tijuana, B.C.)
Television: United States - Azteca America; Mexico - SKY Planeta Fútbol, Sky HD
Streaming: Sling (Free trial + monthly subscription)
Tijuana (5W 1D 3L) hosts Santos (2W 6D 1L) will officially get Liga MX back underway, after the league ground to a halt due to a referees’ strike. A win would put Xolos back on top of the table - if only for the evening as they trail Chivas and Pachuca by one point. At 12 points, Santos isn’t within striking distance of the top but are hanging on to a playoff berth.
Club Tijuana
Xolos will look to rebound to a rather disappointing loss against Monarcas Morelia earlier in the week in Copa MX play. While dominant for most of the match, Xolos ran into a superb goalkeeping performance by Sebastián Sosa. They’ll need to do better against Santos, as goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco may probe to be an even tougher test than Sosa. Xolos’ Michael Orozco was called in to the United States National Team selection, however he’s not expected to miss any time with Tijuana. Look for much of the same lineup that Miguel Herrera put out against Monarcas, as that lineup (with the exception of Juan Pablo Meza instead of Damián Pérez) was the same lineup used against Club América.
Santos Laguna
Santos was also unceremoniously dropped out of the Copa MX tournament by Cruz Azul on Tuesday. Cape Verdean forward Djaniny scored Santos’ lone goal in the 3-1 loss, and is Santos’ main scoring threat. He has three goals in nine games for Santos, and he and Argentine forward Julio Furch will pose problems for Xolos center backs. Santos’ defender Nestor Araujo was called up to Juan Carlos Osorio’s latest Mexico squad, while teammate Jorge Villafana will represent the United States. Araujo and Carlos Izquierdoz are a formidable duo at center back, and will look to limit the touches that Avilés Hurtado and Milton Caraglio get.