Match recap: Necaxa 3, Tijuana 2

A back-and-forth affair that eventually saw hosts Necaxa down Tijuana 3-2. Ventura Alvarado, Maximiliano Salas, and Mauro Quiroga scored for Los Rayos while Xolos got goals from Vladimir Loroña and Ignacio Rivero.

Necaxa got off to a flying start when Ventura Alvarado got to a header off of a corner and hit it past goalkeeper Gibran Lajud to give Necaxa the lead in the fifth minute. It was the second goal of the season for the Phoenix, Arizona native.

It wouldn’t be long until TIjuana equalized though. In the seventh minute, Vladimir Loroña would get a pass at the top of the box and he hit a curling shot that beat Hugo Gonzalez to the top corner.

In the 13th, former Xolos’ player Jesús Angulo had a go at goal but it went wide of the net. Necaxa tried to pressure Tijuana, however Xolos were more than willing to allow them to come at them and counterattack when they were able to dispossess Los Rayos.

Xolos would get their second in the 28th when Miller Bolaños picked out a pass to his left to Aldo Cruz, who hit a beautiful cross to an unmarked Ignacio “Nacho” Rivero, and the Uruguayan got his first goal of the season.

It looked like Necaxa had equalized immediately however when Gibran Lajud misplayed a corner kick and it fell to the head of Mauro Quiroga, who put the ball into the back of the net. The play was reviewed by VAR however, and it was judged that a Xolos player was shoved down in the box on the kick and the goal was waved off.

In the 39th, Quiroga would get his head onto a cross into the box and it would hit flush off the face of the post. As the clock surpassed the 45 minute mark, Necaxa would get another corner kick. This time Lajud read it perfectly and was in a perfect position to absorb and hold on to the header.

In the 52nd minute, Necaxa got their equalizer when a shot caromed off of the crossbar and out to Maximiliano Salas, whose shot beat Lajud.

In the 57th Camilo Sanvezzo was almost able to put Xolos back up when he was played in on goalkeeper Hugo González, but his touch on the ball was stopped by the sliding González. In the 70th, Xolos would again concede a set piece and off of the corner kick, Quiroga would take a flying kick that would go just over the bar.

Necaxa would the the go ahead goal in the 78th minute when Quiroga got to a floated cross into the box from Cristian Calderón. Quiroga hit the header, and Lajud appeared to slip, allowing the header to float into the back of the net.

In the 87th Necaxa almost added another when Angulo came in and hit a shot that took a weird deflection but Lajud was able to hang on to it. Just into stoppage, Juan Delgado hit a shot from the right side that Lajud tipped and the deflection hit off of the crossbar.

Both teams are off next week for the international break. Necaxa’s next match is on Wednesday, September 4 when they host Celaya in Copa MX play. Their next Liga MX match is Saturday, September 14th when they head to Monterrey to face Rayados. Tijuana’s next match is also a Copa MX match on Wednesday, September 4 against Mineros de Zacatecas. Their next Liga MX match is Friday, September 13 when they host Tigres UANL.

Necaxa: Hugo González; Cristian Calderón (Jairo González, 88’), Ventura Alvarado, Rodrigo Noya, Fernando Meza, Luis Felipe Gallegos (Ricardo Chávez, 64’); Jesús Angulo, Claudio Baeza; Mauro Quiroga, Maximiliano Salas (Eduardo Herrera, 79’), Juan Delgado

Tijuana: Gibran Lajud; Aldo Cruz, Diego Braghieri, Julián Velázquez, Vladimir Loroña; Kevin Balanta, Ignacio Rivero (Mauro Lainez, 81’); Leonel Miranda, Miller Bolaños, Camilo Sanvezzo (Ariel Nahuelpán, 67’); César Falletti (Ángel Sepúlveda, 73’)

Scoring: Necaxa - Ventura Alvarado (5’), Maximiliano Salas (52’), Mauro Quiroga (78’); Tijuana - Vladimir Loroña (7’), Ignacio Rivero (28’)

Discilplinary: Necaxa - Claudio Baeza (Yellow - 58’), Ventura Alvarado (Yellow - 74’), Hugo González (Yellow - 83’); Tijuana - Vladimir Loroña (Yellow - 45+2’)