El Turco had a basic plan coming into the Estadio Tecnologico in Monterrey: play solid defense, and deny Monterrey all scoring opportunities, basically, get a draw. Well, Xolos did a little bit more than that, and pulled off a historic 1-0 win thanks to a late goal by American-born player, Greg Garza.
Xolos focused on defending well all game long, not just falling back like Cruz Azul did against Leon yesterday, but actually using all of its players to form a defensive shield starting from the half line. Monterrey never had a clear attacking opportunity all throughout the game, struggling to get anything done in the last third of the field.
El Turco got he job done.
With this 1-0 away win, Tijuana has a huge advantage going into Sunday’s game at the Estadio Caliente. Monterrey must score 2 goals in order to go through to the semifinals. Monterrey needs to win 2-1, or get a result where they score more than 2 goals and win (3-2, 4-3, etc.). A loss, draw, or 1-0 win eliminates Monterrey. Quite a task for Monterrey, considering Xolos only allowed 4 goals at home all season long.
Looks like Monterrey has one foot out the door.
Enjoy the Xolos 1-0 Monterrey highlights:
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