Match preview: Club Tijuana vs. Pachuca

Game: Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente vs. Club de Fútbol Pachuca

Date: Friday, October 30th

Time: 11:06 p.m. Eastern, 10:06 p.m. Central, 8:06 p.m. Pacific, 3:06 a.m. UTC

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

Referees: REF: Diego Montaño Robles, AR1: Mario Jesús López Carrillo, AR2: Cesar Cerritos García, 4TH: Edgar Ulises Rangel Araujo, VAR: Juan Joel Rangel Maya, AVAR: Christian Adrián Ramírez Tejeda

Television: United States - FOX Sports 2, FOX Deportes; Mexico - Fox Sports 2; Belize - FOX Sports 2; Costa Rica - FOX Sports 2; Dominican Republic - FOX Sports 2; El Salvador - FOX Sports 2; Guatemala - FOX Sports 2; Honduras - FOX Sports 2; Nicaragua - FOX Sports 2; Panama - FOX Sports 2; Venezuela - FOX Sports 2;

Streaming: fuboTV (Free trial + monthly subscription), Sling TV (Free trial + monthly subscription), FOX Sports GO, Vidgo (Free trial + monthly subscription)

All-time record: Pachuca holds the slight edge all-time across all competitions, having won nine to Tijuana’s eight with four draws between the clubs. In Liga MX, the clubs are even with seven wins each with four draws between them. The remaining three games were in the Copa MX, with Pachuca winning the 2017 Apertura quarterfinal match 4-0 while the clubs each won a match 2-1 in the 2019 Clausura group stage. In their last meeting, Xolos beat Tuzos 3-2 in what would be the final match of the 2020 Clausura. Xolos got goals from Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Mauro Lainez, and Alexis Castro while Pachuca’s goals both came from Franco Jara.

Tijuana (4W 2D 9L) plays a critical match against Pachuca (5W 7D 3L) tonight at Estadio Caliente. Xolos are currently on the outside looking in, a point behind FC Juárez (3W 6D 6L) for twelfth place and the last spot in the repechaje at the beginning of this week. Pachuca sits comfortably in seventh place, however still could qualify outright if they win out and get some help elsewhere.

Xolos will hope that playing at home and after a week’s rest will help them find some sort of spark to break out of a four game winless streak where they had three 2-0 losses on the road and a 0-0 draw at home against Chivas (6W 4D 5L). Their last goal was Gerson Vázquez’ game winner in the 78th minute against Juárez a month ago to the day.

Pachuca on the other hand hasn’t lost in their last six, however they’ve played in three straight 1-1 draws and only won once during that stretch - a 1-0 win over Atlas (3W 4D 8L).

While Pachuca doesn’t score a ton of goals (16 on the season, twelfth in the league), they have conceded just 13 in 15 games (fourth best in the league). Goalkeeper Oscar Ustari and his defense have had five shutouts on the season so far, holding some of the better offenses in the league at bay.

This will prove hugely problematic for Xolos, who are dead last in goals scored with just ten on the season. But if they’re going to make the repechaje, they’ll somehow need to find a little magic under the night sky in Baja California.