Match recap: Tijuana 3, Veracruz 0

Veracruz would go down a man before the tenth minute of the match, and it only got worse from there for the relegation-threatened Tiburones Rojos as Club Tijuana gets a convincing 3-0 win at Estadio Caliente.

The match got off to a rough start for Tijuana, as they were forced to make a substitution in the fourth minute when Fabián Castillo picked up an injury when he was run into by Veracruz forward Colin Kazim-Richards. He would be replaced a minute later by Jesús Angulo. Castillo would be shown on the bench getting an ice pack on his upper thigh/groin area.

In the 7th minute, Xolos would drive down the pitch and Ariel Nahuelpán would bull his way with the ball up to the goal and take a shot. Veracruz defender Edson García would slap the shot off of the line and earn a red card for his trouble. Gustavo Bou would step up to the spot and nail the kick to put Xolos up 1-0.

In the 17th minute, Gustavo Bou would drive down the left side and hit a cross that just sailed over the head of Nahuelpán - but it would hit Miller Bolaños in stride and “Killer” would hit a right footed blast past Sebastián Jurado to give Xolos the 2-0 lead.

In the 22nd minute, Diego Braghieri was whistled for a foul in the box on Caicedo and the penalty was given. Cristian “Polaco” Menéndez would step up and take the penalty, but Xolos goalkeeper Gibran Lajud would make a fantastic diving save to keep the visitors off of the board.

In the 34th, Xolos had a golden opportunity to widen the lead when Miller Bolaños was played in on Jurado. Jurado was able to stop the shot from Bolaños, but the rebound went out to Jesús Angulo. Angulo shot on what he thought was an open net but out of nowhere Fabricio Silva was able to clear the ball off of the line and out for a corner.

In the 43rd minute Diego Braghieri would get his head on a corner kick, however it would ring off of the post and be cleared out by a Tiburones Rojos defender. Braghieri would have another header go just wide of the mark in the 47th minute as well.

In the second half Xolos would keep the pressure on, albeit without the sense of urgency they had in the first half. In the 70th minute, Nahuelpán would get a shot from close range but Jurado would make himself as big as possible and make the save.

Veracruz would almost strike lucky in the 77th minute when Adrián Luna would hit a free kick flush off of the crossbar. In the 89th minute, Daniel López would hit a free kick that made its way through traffic and in past Jurado for the final goal of the evening - and the first of López’ professional career.

Ultimately Veracruz would be unable to overcome the man advantage and it would be Xolos picking up all three points on the evening.

Xolos will host Pachuca in Copa MX play on Tuesday before heading out to Aguascalientes where they’ll face Necaxa in Liga MX play on Saturday. Veracruz will head home to host Mineros de Zacatecas in the Copa MX on Tuesday before hosting Cruz Azul on Friday.

Tijuana: Gibran Lajud; Luis Fuentes, Diego Braghieri, Julián Velázquez, Omar Mendoza; Fabián Castillo (Jesús Angulo, 5’), Diego Rodríguez, Ignacio Rivero (Diego González, 58’), Miller Bolaños; Ariel Nahuelpán (Daniel López, 72’), Gustavo Bou

Veracruz: Sebastián Jurado; Iván Santillan, Carlos Gutiérrez (Adrián Luna, 33’), Fabricio Silva, Edson García, Jesús Paganoni; Luis Noriega (Luis Caicedo, 16’), Carlos Salcido, Sebastián Rodríguez; Cristian Menéndez (Diego Chávez, 72’), Colin Kazim-Richards

Scoring: Tijuana - Gustavo Bou (8’ - penalty), Miller Bolaños (16’), Daniel López (89’); Veracruz - None

Disciplinary: Tijuana - Ignacio Rivero (Yellow - 53’); Veracruz - Edson García (Red - 7’), Colin Kazim-Richards (Yellow - 82’)