Match recap: Club Tijuana 1, Club América 1

The match between Club Tijuana and Club América was billed as being the must-see match of the week, and it did not disappoint in the most Liga MX of ways. Two goals, two expulsions, nine yellow cards, and all of the drama imaginable.

As expected, the reactions to returning Miguel Herrera and Guido Rodríguez were mixed with mostly boos. Also as expected, both teams came to play. In the fifth minute, Gustavo Bou picked the pocket of an América defender, drove centrally, and drew a foul. On the ensuing free kick, Bou’s blast whistled just wide of the post. Tijuana’s overall defensive effort was sharp early, forcing América to make errors and commit turnovers.

In the 16th minute, Agustín Marchesín had to make an acrobatic save to slap away a redirected shot from Edson Álvarez.

In the 25th minute, Cecilio Dominguez broke down the left and hit a perfect cross to Oribe Peralta, who slotted it home past Gibran Lajud to put América up 1-0. Take a look at the replay though, as it looked like Peralta was played in an offside position.

Moments later, Xolos would have a golden opportunity to equalize when Pantera Bou went down in the box. It looked like he went down a bit easy, and perhaps it was a make-up call for the missed offside, but it was awarded nonetheless. Gustavo Bou hit it softly along the ground however, allowing Marchesín to easily smother the shot.

The first half was chippy, with four players earning yellow cards and a scuffle breaking out as the clock crept toward 45 minutes.

This came to a bit of a head when Miguel Samudio was show his second yellow card in the 58th minute. This would be the break Tijuana would need. In the 67th minute, Miller Bolaños would draw the sides level. Damián Musto played in a great ball, Gustavo Bou played an even better dummy, and Bolaños got enough on it to get it past Marchesín.

While the game opened up a little bit for Xolos, they wasted several good chances which could have easily turned the tide of the match. To be fair, Marchesín stood on his head to keep América in the match, and luckily for the visitors they were able to hang on for a hard-fought draw on the road.

Club Tijuana: Gibran Lajud; Damián Pérez, Alejandro Donatti, Emanuel Aguilera, Michael Orozco (Miller Bolaños, 62’), Matías Aguirregaray; Damián Musto, Joe Corona (Alejandro Guido, 68’); Ignacio Malcorra, Juan Iturbe (Luis Mendoza, 80’); Gustavo Bou

Club América: Agustín Marchesín; Miguel Samudio, Pablo Aguilar, Edson Álvarez (Carlos Vargas - 21’), Paul Aguilar; Guido Rodríguez; William da Silva, Darwin Quintero; Cecilio Domínguez (Alejandro Díaz, 76’), Silvio Romero, Oribe Peralta (Mateus Uribe, 60’)

Scoring: Club Tijuana - Miller Bolaños (68’); Club América - Oribe Peralta (25’)

Disciplinary: Club Tijuana - Gustavo Bou (Yellow - 45+5’), Damián Musto (Yellow - 43‘, 88’) Miller Bolaños (Yellow - 69’); Club América - Miguel Samudio (Yellow - 19’, 58’), Oribe Peralta (Yellow - 32’), Cecilio Domínguez (Yellow - 44’), Guido Rodríguez (Yellow - 90+1’)