Match recap: Santos Laguna 5, Veracruz 0

An important win by Santos Laguna, as they defeat Veracruz 5-0 at Estadio Corona TSM. It could have been very easy for Santos to lose their focus against a team that hasn’t won in their last 34 league matches, but Santos came out and did what they had to do, getting goals from four different players and an own goal from Veracruz.

In the third minute Santos was gifted with a golden opportunity when Sebastián Jurado turned the ball over while off of his line when Diego Valdés came crashing in and blocked his clearance. Valdés corralled the ball and passed it centrally to an onrushing Fernando Gorriarán, but the Uruguayan took one too many touches and dribbled himself out of possession.

In the 13th, Santos had another decent opportunity when Julio Furch drove down the left and hit a shot but Jurado was well positioned and maed the stop. In the 17th though Eryc “La Culebra” Castillo was played in down the left, He drove in and hit a shot past an onrushing Jurado to put Santos on the board.

In the 21st, Veracruz almost countered when they drove down and Diego Chávez hit a shot past Jonathan Orozco but got the angle slightly wrong and the ball went out over the end line. The play seemed to get bogged down a bit after that, with Santos mostly keeping the ball in the Veracruz end but not able to get any quality chances.

There was a bit of controversy at the end of the first half when Fernando Gorriarán was fouled close to the box. Santos was adamant it was inside, but the referee ruled it was committed outside of the box and no penalty was awarded.

In the 50th minute, Santos would come close when Brian Lozano faked out a defender and shot wide. A minute later, Santos would score off of a corner when Matheus Dória crashed through the traffic and somehow directed the ball past Jurado.

Three minutes later Santos would score again when Brian Lozano hit a free kick from distance that blurred the line between science and art.

In the 68th minute, Gorriarán would get tangled up with Keko Villalba and was initially shown a yellow card. Upon VAR review the yellow was rescinded and Gorriarán was shown a straight red, which was a fair result.

It wouldn't seem to matter however. Minutes later Santos would score again when Diego Valdés hit a rocket from just outside of the box.

Then in the 85th to add insult to injury, Carlos Salcido had the misfortune of scoring an own goal to compete the rout.

Santos will travel to Mexico City to face Pumas on Sunday afternoon while Veracruz returns home to host Toluca Sunday evening.

Santos Laguna: Jonathan Orozco; Gerardo Arteaga, Matheus Dória, Félix Torres, Emilio Orrantía; Fernando Gorriarán, Ulíses Rívas; Eryc Castillo, Diego Valdés (Edgar Games, 76’), Brian Lozano (Adrián Lozano, 81’); Julio Furch (Eduardo Aguirre, 74’)

Veracruz: Sebastián Jurado: Carlos Gutiérrez, Carlos Salcido, Leobardo López, Arturo Paganoni; Sebastián Rodríguez, Gaspar Iñiguez (Gabriel Peñalba, 66’), Abraham González; Daniel Villalva, Diego Chávez (Cristian Menéndez, 74’), Bryan Carrasco (Ángel Reyna, 56’)

Scoring: Santos Laguna - Eryc Castillo (17’), Matheus Dória (51’), Brian Lozano (54’), Diego Valdés (75’), Carlos Salcido (85’ - autogol); Veracruz - None

Disciplinary: Santos Laguna - Jonathan Orozco (Yellow - 45+1’), Fernando Gorriarán (Red, 69’); Veracruz - None