Cruz Azul won his first official victory under the technical direction of Nicolás Larcamón this Saturday, after beating León 4-1 at the University Olympic Stadium (CU) of Mexico City.
The match corresponded to day 3 of the Opening 2025 Tournament of the MX League. The machine had achieved draws against Mazatlan (0-0) and Atlas (3-3) at the start of this season. The triumph was the great debt for a team that was champion of Concacaf and semifinalist of Liga MX in the previous semester.
The victory took shape in the second half, when Ángel Sepúlveda (62 ‘), Carlos Rodríguez (66’ and 87 ‘) and Jeremy Márquez (90+3’) finally could pierce the goal of Óscar García, which had been the figure in the first half with several saves. He controlled a center of José Paradela with his chest and defined with a Chilean who put the ball right at the lower right angle of the Emerald goal.
A few minutes later, Rodríguez increased the advantage fortuitous. He took the ball two touches in a corner kick and shot without greater danger, but the ball drained from the hands of Oscar García.
And it is that for almost an hour, intense rain hit the south of Mexico City, so the court was completely wet. There were even some rays, but the arbitral body did not decide to pause the game.
The third score was a backlash led by ‘Charly’ Rodríguez, who after a rebound by Óscar García, ended on the network after shot of the former Monterrey midfielder.
Jeremy Márquez, one of the cement reinforcements for this tournament, rounded the celebration in CU with a goal in added time. He hit the upper left angle of the goalkeeper, taking advantage of the spaces of the last minutes.
León had found a pinch of hope at minute 78, when Jesús Orozco Chiquete scored in his own door and left Kevin Mier, goalkeeper of the machine. Previous moments, Rogelio Funes Mori had scored, but his goal was invalidated out of place after review of the VAR.
However, Guanajuato’s team was never solid and insistent at the opposite goal. Consequently, his great figure, the Colombian James Rodríguez, was frustrated. For several minutes he walked on the court and failed the actions of his teammates.
On the machine side, the only curious detail was the boos of a certain part of the gallery against goalkeeper Kevin Mier, who made two mistakes that cost goals a week earlier, in the tie against Atlas in Guadalajara.
This result allowed Cruz Azul ascending to Top 5 of the table momentarily, depending on the result between Necaxa and America a few hours later. It should be remembered that on day 3 there will be no games on Sunday; Everyone played between Friday and Saturday.
On the other hand, Cruz Azul reached six consecutive games with triumph as a local over León, between regular phase and league. His last fall against the Esmeraldas was on November 3, 2021, when they still played at the Azteca Stadium.
Nicolás Larcamón found a break for his team prior to the trip to Leagues Cup. Cruz Azul will debut in that tournament on Thursday, July 31, facing Seattle Sounders in US territory. Three days later he will play against Los Angeles Galaxy and close the first round on August 7 against Colorado Rapids.
The next match of Cruz Azul in Cu will be until Saturday, August 16, on day 5 of Opening 2025 against Santos. It will reactivate its passage in Liga MX five days before, but as a visitor, against Atlético de San Luis.
León, on the other hand, will face Montreal, New York City FC and Columbus Crew in the first round of Leagues Cup, before receiving Monterrey on the fourth day of Opening 2025 on August 11.
At the moment, the beast is located in the last place in the general table, only above Bravos de Juárez and Querétaro. Its beginning records two losses (Cruz Azul and Atlético de San Luis), in addition to a triumph (Chivas).
