Tijuana are still searching for their first league win of the season after just missing out in their 12th attempt due to a 94th minute equaliser for Santos.
Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, or rather more easily referred to as just Xolos, are a relatively new club, having only been formed 17 years ago in 2007. They are named after the dog Xolo Mayor, the national dog of Mexico, which the ancient Aztecs considered sacred some 4,000 years ago.
Xolos made an incredibly strong impact very early on in their short history.
After just five seasons they had not only made it into Liga MX, the top division in Mexico, but had actually won the Championship in 2012, an incredible feat for such a new club.
This success is recognised by the three stars on their current team badge – one for promotion, one for winning the 2nd division and the third for winning the top division.
Tijuana continued their success onto the international stage by getting as far as the quarter finals of the Copa Libertadores the following season, with impressive victories along the way against Brazilian giants Corinthians and Palmeiras.
Their was a fairly sizeable crowd for their Friday night match against Santos Laguna in their 27,000 capacity Estadio Caliente.
From a pre-match tour of the tail gate party in the stadium’s car park, it was clear they have a sizeable support who travel across the nearby border from California in USA.
In fact, an upcoming event over the border may impact this club further when Major League Soccer arrives in San Diego next season just 20 miles north of Tijuana.
There is huge potential for a strong partnership between both clubs to promote and enhance football in both local communities across the border and there is already talk of an annual pre-season friendly between the clubs.
Xolos took full advantage of having the only artificial pitch in the 18-strong Liga MX by hosting two of their youth matches in the same stadium in the hours building up to the main kick off.
This makes for a great opportunity for fans to get a regular view of the upcoming talent for their club.
This season had not been rosy thus far for the winless Xolos. Eleven Liga MX games had produced seven draws and four losses.
They started the match against Santos in 16th position and in desperate need of a win. Santos meanwhile were riding high on confidence following three wins in a row, which had seen them climb to 12th position, after suffering four defeats in a row.
Santos continued this strong run by deservedly leading the match 1-0 at half time following a 28th minute goal by midfielder Aldo López Vargas, who headed in his first goal for the club after 53 matches.
Under pressure manager Miguel Herrera made two changes at half time for Xolos. That, alongside his half time team talk seemed to transform his side’s performance in the second half. They looked a completely different side, from docile kitten to barking xoloitzcuintli, you could say.
Second half goals from Paraguayan international striker Carlos González and Colombian midfielder Christian Rivera turned round the match and seemed to be enough to give the home side their first long awaited win of the season.
However when the fourth official signalled there would be eight minutes of injury time, the doubts started to appear in the Xolos’ players’ and fans’ minds alike.
Sure enough Ronaldo Prieto popped up to get the 94th minute equaliser for the away side.
Xolos will now have two full weeks because of the international break to work on how they get back to winning ways.
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]]>Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez
Credit: Goal.com
The ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and West Ham forward turns 32 today and has been a star for a few teams he has played for but how did Chicharito get to Europe from Mexico.
The striker started his professional career at Guadalajara as he was promoted from the U20’s in the summer of 2006.
The 06/07 would be the forward’s first ever senior season and it would see him make eight appearances scoring one goal in all competitions. He would appear in 11 games the next season but he did not score a single club for the Mexican club in that season.
In the 08/09 season, Chicharito featured quite a lot for the Mexican club as he featured 31 times for the club scoring seven goals and assisting twice.
His scoring boots would come on in the 09/10 season for Guadalajara as he would feature 28 times scoring 21 goals and assisting seven goals giving him an average of one goal contribution per game.
In the summer of 2010, Manchester United signed the Mexican forward for £6.75 million. His first season for the Red Devils would see him score 20 goals and assist five times in 45 games.
He would appear less the next season but still appeared over 30 times and scored 12 goals. 72 appearances in the next two seasons saw Chicharito score 27 times in that space of time.
In September 2014, the forward would be loaned to Real Madrid for the rest of the season till June 2015. It was a mediocre spell in Madrid with the forward featuring in 33 matches for Los Blancos where he would score and assist nine goals.
Bayer Leverkusen signed the Mexican for just over £10 million in the summer of 2015. In the two seasons that he spent in Germany he would appear 76 times scoring 39 goals and assisting nine times.
A £16 million signing for West Ham in the summer of 2017 saw the Mexican back in the Premier League again. 63 games for the London club saw the Mexican score 17 goals and assist four goals.
In September 2019, he would move to sunny Spain to Seville for £7 million. He would rarely feature for the Spanish club only making 15 appearances and scoring three goals. He then signed for the LA Galaxy in January 2020 only making two appearances for the club so far.
For the Mexican national team he has made over 100 appearances scoring 52 goals in the process. He’s also appeared in three World Cups (2010,2014 and 2018). He’s also won the Gold Cup with Mexico in 2011 and was Mexico Player of the Year in the 2010/11 season.
He’s won the Premier League twice and the Community Shield twice with Manchester United, the FIFA Club World Cup with Real Madrid and the Liga MX with Guadalajara.
Youssef En-Nesyri
Credit: Goal.com
The Moroccan striker turns 23 today and is considered a solid player in La Liga currently.
At the start of his career in 2015, he would move from his homeland Morocco to Malaga in Spain as he joined the Spanish team’s U19’s setup from AM Football for a fee of £100,000.
In January 2017, he would sign his professional contract for the club and feature in the first team for the second half of the season. He featured 15 times for the rest of the season scoring one goal and grabbing one assist in the process.
His first full season would be the 17/18 season, where he would play 26 times for the club in all competitions scoring four goals.
En-Nesyri was on the move again in the last couple of days of the 2018 summer transfer window to CD Leganes for a fee of £5.4 million.
For the first time in his career he would appear 30 times for a club. In the 18/19 campaign he featured 34 times for Leganes scoring 11 goals and assisting on two ocassions.
19 appearances for Leganes in the first half of the 19/20 season saw the striker score four goals and assist two goals. In January 2020, he was on the move yet again with Sevilla paying £16 million for the striker’s services.
He has played 11 games for the club so far this season and managed to score four goals in the process.
He made his international debut for Morocco back in 2016 at the age of 19 and has made 21 appearances since his debut scoring six goals.
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The Copa de Campeones is headed back to the Estadio Universitario. On Saturday Tigres defeated Chivas de Guadalajara 2-0 to earn the title at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Enner Valencia’s second half brace would give Tigres the advantage and ultimately the victory. His first came in the 52nd minute, finishing off a pass from Lucas Zelaryan. His second would come on a penalty kick chance in the 55th minute.
On hand to cover the match was Prost Amerika reporter/photographer Jose Castellanos. Please enjoy some of his photos from the match and give him your thoughts on Twitter.
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Herrera led Mexico at the 2014 World Cup and Xolos to the top of the 2016 Apertura
Tijuana Xolos and former Mexico head coach, Miguel Herrera will be the guest Foreword writer for Prost Amerika’s inaugural Mexican Soccer Yearbook.
He will join Mexico Editor Jonny Rico, guest writers and the photographers of Prost Amerika to create the first English language Yearbook specifically written for Mexican-American soccer fans.
Herrera spoke about his participation:
“I’d like to thank Prost and Jonny Rico for this recognition and for thinking of me to help with an important project like this book. Writing the foreword of a book will be something new for me, but I am thankful and it will be an honor to contribute and participate with the book.
“We hope this will be a big hit for them.”
After safely shepherding Mexico through playoffs to the 2014 World Cup Finals, Miguel Herrera was offered the job on a permanent basis to lead El Tri in Brazil at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Herrera’s side emerged from a tough group including Brazil and fought the hosts to a memorable 0-0 draw in the process before beating Croatia 3-1 to advance undefeated.
Mexico was finally eliminated from the World Cup in the Round of 16 stage by the Netherlands after a controversial penalty awarded for a foul on Arjen Robben.
Kim Little is forewording the Women’s Soccer Yearbook
Herrera went on to lead Mexico to the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Title in the USA before an altercation with a journalist on the way home from Philadelphia cost him that job despite that success.
He took over at Liga MX side Tijuana Xolos that November, and he has guided the border club to the top of the current 2016 Apertura standings. Herrera is looking for his second title as a coach, having guided Club America to the Clausura in 2013.
He joins a prominent list of Prost Amerika Foreword writers.
Timber Jim Serrill wrote the Foreword to Cup Bound & Crowned, a book covering the Portland Timbers 2015 MLS cup win.
Earlier this month, it was announced that BBC Player of the Year, Arsenal FC’s Kim Little would pen the Foreword to 2016 — The Year in Women’s Soccer, which is already on Pre-Sale.
2016 – The Year in Mexican Soccer is scheduled to launch in early December 2016.
Actual launch date, book signing events, etc. will be announced on Prost Publishing Facebook page.
By: Jonny Rico
Follow Jonny on Facebook and Twitter
There are a lot of fundamental things that are wrong in LIGA Bancomer MX. Like the ‘Pacto de Caballeros’, the unwritten agreement to NOT respect free agency and completely undermine the rights of a player out of contract. But since that is the way it has always been in Mexico and MLS also seems to have that problem, we all choose to ignore it.
But when Puebla FC becomes one of the three LIGA MX representatives in Copa Libertadores – the most important club competition in the Western Hemisphere – there is something REALLY WRONG with you.
To the defense of LIGA MX, it is not 100 percent its faul. The region’s governing body, CONCACAF can take partial blame here.
Puebla FC currently holds the ‘Mexico 3 slot in the 2016 Copa Libertadores and were paired against Argentina’s Racing Club in a preliminary round to see which of the two advances to the group stage.
The first leg match ended in a 2-2 draw in Puebla’s Estadio Cuauhtemoc. Twice the Argentine club came from behind to tie the game and take two crucial away goal as tie-breakers. The second leg match is scheduled for Wednesday Feb. 10 at 4:45 p.m. (Pacific) / 7:45 p.m. (Eastern).
So how does a team that has only won 19 of the last 70 league matches get to represent LIGA MX and Mexico at the Copa Libertadores? By not winning a league title or even making a league final. Because achieving either one of these would automatically disqualify a Mexican team from being eligible for Copa Libertadores. The champion and runner up finisher of every season are forced to compete in the CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) and thus not allowed to participate in Copa Libertadores.
With a 19-26-25 record over the past two years in LIGA MX, Puebla FC is not the worst representation of a country in Copa Libertadores. During the 2011 edition of the tournament Club Jorge Wilsterman of Bolivia participated in the international club competition despite being relegated to the Second Division of Bolivian football.
Wilsterman had won the championship during the first semester season and with it its Copa Libertadores entry. But a bad second semester saw the reigning champions relegated to the Second Division and forced to participate in Copa Libertadores from the lower tier.
Since CONCACAF does not allow the Mexican Soccer Federation (FMF) to send its best teams to a rival confederation’s tournament, the FMF decided to spice things up in its domestic cup competition, Copa MX, by giving the teams there a path to Copa Libertadores.
The Apertura Copa MX champions face off against the Clausura champions during the summer in what is known as the Super Copa MX. The winning team is awarded the ‘Mexico 3’ spot in the following January’s edition of Copa Libertadores. ‘Mexico 1’ and ‘Mexico 2’ are the highest seeded teams in the league table during the previous Apertura season, provided that the teams are not tied down in the CCL.
Puebla advanced to the ‘Mexico 3’ spot in the 2016 Copa Libertadores after winning the 2015 Clausura edition of Copa MX. It did not have to go through the 2014-15 Super Copa MX against the 2014 Apertura champion (Santos Laguna) because Santos went on to win the 2015 Clausura league title and forced to go into CCL.
Unfortunately for the Mexican soccer fans, neither the FMF nor the LIGA MX are too concern over fixing the obvious flaw in the system that allows teams like Puebla FC to be a representative.
Mexican television companies hold strong influence over the FMF and LIGA MX. And since neither of the two biggest TV networks in Mexico have the television rights to Copa Libertadores this problem is not a priority to the Mexican soccer authorities.
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