Match preview: Tijuana vs. UNAM Pumas

Game: Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente vs. Club Universidad Nacional A. C.

Date: Friday, August 9th

Time: 10:06 p.m. Eastern, 9:06 p.m. Central, 7:06 p.m. Pacific, 2:06 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Caliente (Tijuana, B.C.)

Referees: REF: Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava, AR1: Miguel Angel Chua Ortiz, AR2: Telly Salvador Saldivar Guzman, 4TH: Louis Adrian Vielmas Valdez

Radio: 98.9 FM (Tijuana/San Diego), 106.7 FM (Calexico/Mexicali)

Television: United States - Fox Sports 1, FOX Deportes Network, Fox 5 San Diego; Mexico - Fox Sports 2 Cono Norte

Streaming: fuboTV (Free trial + monthly subscription), Sling TV (Free trial + monthly subscription), FOX Sports GO, MOREFM Online.com (Audio only)

All-time record: Tijuana leads the series with eight wins to Pumas’ five, while the clubs have drawn five times. All of their previous meetings have been in Liga MX play. In their last meeting, Pumas won 1-0 on April 14 at Estadio Olímpico in CDMX. In the last match at Estadio Caliente, it was Xolos getting the 1-0 win back on October 27, 2018.

Photo by Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Tijuana (1W 1D 1L) heads back to Baja California after a rough outing against Club América (2W 1D 0L) last week. They’ll host UNAM Pumas (2W 0D 1L), who also had an outing to forget last week against Tigres UANL (2W 0D 1L).

Xolos fell victim to a fantastic game by Giovani dos Santos. The América forward was instrumental in their attack, scoring a goal and assisting on another. Xolos had positives to take away from the loss however. Camilo Sanvezzo scored his first goal in Liga MX play in a Xolos uniform, and the rest of the offense had several stretches of brilliant play.

Photo by Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

They’ll host a Pumas side that despite a much improved performance still conceded a goal late to Tigres at home to give up all three points. Pumas will be without Jeison Angulo, who picked up two yellow cards in the match. Look for Idekel Dominguez or Alan Mozo to get the start in his place.

Xolos fans will also recognize some familiar faces in the blue and white of Club Universidad Nacional. Juan Iturbe and Ignacio Malcorra were with Tijuana up until the start of the 2018 Apertura season.

Pumas isn’t a club to be taken lightly, but they are a beatable team. If Xolos can get a better defensive performance than their last time out and get the kind of offensive magic they had going during the first half of their match against Querétaro, it will go a long way in helping them ascend up the table.