America and Cruz Azul will fight it out at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX on July 11, 2012 at 8:00 pm. Ok, so maybe saying they will “fight it out” is a bit of an overstatement; this will be Club America’s second match out of three friendly matches it will play in an eight day period. Cruz Azul has the exact same schedule, the match against America will be number two of out three matches it is playing in a week. It is very unlilkely that they will use all of their starters, and fans should expect to see a healthy dose of bench warmers on the field.
However, this is an important part of both teams’ pre-season schedule en route to the Apertura 2012 (just 16 days away!), and will obviously serve as a way to get the players fit and the teamwork levels high before Match Day 1 of the Liga MX.
Cruz Azul has had several high-profile additions to the team: Pablo Barrera, Luis Perea and Mariano Pavone. Cruz Azul needs to work on its teamwork, as it has added new starting players to every line in the team. America’s only acquisition of note is Efrain Juarez; strengthening and fitness are America’s main goals for their preseason.
Overall, this match serves three purposes: helps both teams prepare for the Apertura 2012, it allows fans who usually don’t have a chance to watch these Mexico City based teams to do so, and it generates revenues for both teams. Thus, it is what I would call a win-win-win situation.
