The night was a nightmare for Toluca. Not only because the undefeated team lost at the Nemesio Díez stadium against Cruz Azul (1-0), but also because of the beaten image of its goalkeeper Tiago Volpi, who missed two penalties in a period of 10 minutes and missed the possibility of closing as leader in the regular phase of the Liga Mx.
Despite the statistics in favor of the Devils, La Maquina took the same risks when defending and attacked as many times as they could as they have done since the arrival of coach Martín Anselmi, whose work was revealed with second place and a mark 33 points in his first tournament in Mexico.
A header from defender Willer Ditta, behind the former sky blue captain and now scarlet defender, Juan Escobar, was enough to make a difference on the scoreboard from the 18th minute. The Colombian only had to direct the center that Rodolfo Rotondi sent from the left to beat goalkeeper Volpi.
With the lead defended until half-time, Martín Anselmi’s team suffered the unexpected loss of defender Gonzalo Piovi after a broken collarbone, resulting from a collision with Jean Meneses. That changed, in some way, the face of the celestial players, who saw in the Argentine one of their greatest pillars.
Volpi had the Devils’ tie at his feet on a couple of occasions from the penalty spot, in a period of 10 minutes. In both, however, the ball hit his colleague Kevin Mier’s right post and caused deep sighs among his thousands of fans. The victory took the Machine to second place in the table, behind the leader América and ahead of the Mexicans.
Feline victory in the Volcano
Tigres made their weight count at the University Stadium. They beat Tijuana 4-1 and climbed to fourth position, with two points more than their archrival, Monterrey.
The Frenchman André-Pierre advanced the cats (13) while Sebastián Córdova (61), Juan Brunetta (81, from a penalty) and Nicolás Ibáñez (90+3) resolved the victory.
José Zúñiga scored for the Xolos (83).
In another match of the day, Pachuca tied 1-1 with Mazatlán and was momentarily in sixth place with 29 points.
#Maquina #triumphs #Toluca #missed #penalties #Tiago #Volpi
– 2024-05-01 13:36:36
