Chaco Giminez

Every week I post a Game of the Week preview at Pancho Villa's Army. Give it a read.

It's hard being on the road. In Liga MX action this week, the home teams went 6-2-1. This week's visiting teams received more red cards than red carpets (insert snare drum here). Traveling outside of Mexico for the month of January has been similarly (if not equally) challenging for me. Finding a quality torta in central Pennsylvania is harder than a visiting team winning in the Estadio Caliente. Yet, with the help of The Taco Shop in Harrisburg my mission was accomplished. Leon didn't find as much luck.

 
Another Cruz Azul season is in the books with all the familiar smells and tastes that their supporters are so accustomed. This season, unlike last, fits like an old shoe. It reeks of age and looks terrible, but it just feels right. Cruz Azul once again managed to go through the season looking consistently solid and occasionally strong. They give off an impression of a team that could challenge for a title, but once the Liguilla comes around they are outclassed and embarrassed.

Throughout the course of a season the level of play a team exhibits can vary greatly. Swings of momentum can take fans on a rollercoaster of emotions featuring wide-ranging hopes for the season. The fluctuation in the form of individual players can be even more severe. Great players have solid games with the occasional masterful ninety. While the average players have their standard games, but a few times a season break out to have a ‘man of the match’ level performance. When a few players have this stellar performance, it’s usually enough to propel the team to victory.

At the beginning of the season, I had a sneaking suspicion. There was a faint whiff of something foul. I couldn't say for sure that the funk was there, but it was a definite possibility. Now through the tenth match of the season, I could say with confidence ... this Cruz Azul team is deeply flawed and just a bit awful.

An overwhelming disparity exists between the experience of being at a soccer match and that of the home-viewing experience. Some facets of this are fairly obvious. The ability to see more of the field, share in the emotional swings of the people, feel the camaraderie of total strangers, along with the ability to grossly overpay for refreshments are a combination of impossible, exceedingly difficult, or just plain weird to recreate at home.

Heading into halftime of last night's Copa Libertadores match at Estadio Azul, things got interesting. The visiting team, Libertad of Paraguay, was heading in to the locker rooms. Unfortunately, for them, they were down a goal and were now targets. Normally, giant inflatable train-shaped tunnels escort the players, coaches, and referees into the locker rooms. For Copa Libertadores matches the tunnels are gone and the air filled security blanket is missing. The fans acknowledged this and rained the Paraguayan squad with beer cups, pizza boxes, and free game programs.

 
Cruz Azul’s season came to an abrupt conclusion on Sunday. Their season ended with a disappointing draw at Estadio Azteca to Club America. Their failure to get the needed three points was emblematic of their season as a whole. Dropping points early followed by a late charge that comes up short.

Watching Wednesday's Copa Libertadores match I couldn't help having the feeling that I was witnessing evidence. Not evidence in the sense of proving or disproving any of my theories of this Cruz Azul squad, but in the sense that this game was evidence in some match fixing scandal. So poor was the play of the majority of Cruz Azul's players that there seemed to be no other explanation. This is a team with many flaws, yet Wednesday revealed some gaping wounds. No, I don't actually think there was anything afoot in this match.

Article on FMF State of Mind: Three Points in Three Minutes