After winning their respective groups with unbeaten records, Sporting KC and Cruz Azul will collide in the quarterfinals of the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League in March. Ahead of the home-and-away match-up, SportingKC.com will be providing regular updates on La Máquina as part of the site's CCL Crash Course series. Want to know more about the tournament? Check out our 2013-14 CCL Guide.
Five weeks after a disappointing conclusion to the club's Apertura campaign in the Liga MX Liguilla quarterfinals, Cruz Azul returns to the field on Saturday to start the Clausura in a new calendar year and with a new look to La Máquina to mark the 50th anniversary of the club's first season in the top division of Mexican soccer. Luis Fernando Tena replaced Guillermo Vazquez as head coach in December and enters his fourth stint at the helm of Cruz Azul as the team's third coach in the past two years.
Tena's appointment comes as Cruz Azul aims to end a 16-year drought without a league title dating back to 1997 when Tena delivered the club's eighth top flight triumph. Tena takes on the challenge after spending the last four years within the Mexico Men's National Team system, guiding the U-23's to the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and most recently serving as an interim manager for the senior squad in September for the FIFA World Cup Qualifier against the United States.
X-Factor: Liga MX gets head start on MLS schedule
<strong>Event</strong> |
<strong>Cruz Azul</strong> |
<strong>Sporting KC</strong> |
<strong>Gap?</strong> |
Start of Pre-Season |
Dec. 11 |
Jan. 20 |
+40 days |
Season Opener |
Jan. 4 |
March 8 |
+63 days |
Cruz Azul has brought in seven reinforcements for the Clausura, highlighted by 24-year-old Mexican international Marco Fabian and three MLS signings. Fabian arrives on loan from CD Guadalajara and adds to the attack with a resume that includes three goals during the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup and five goals (including two at Sporting Park) during the 2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He also scored in the semifinals of the 2012 Summer Olympics at Wembley Stadium in London.
Players In |
Players Out |
|---|---|
Rafael Baca |
Israel Castro |
Xavier Baez |
Francisco Flores |
Horacio Cervantes |
Jair Pereira |
Marco Fabian |
|
Michael Farfan |
|
Fausto Pinto |
|
Jose Villarreal |
Midfielders Rafael Baca (San Jose Earthquakes) and Michael Farfan (Philadelphia Union), along with striker Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy) all made the move from Major League Soccer to Liga MX. Villarreal was a member of the U.S. Under-20 FIFA World Cup squad in 2013 while Farfan was a 2012 MLS All-Star and 2011 MLS Rookie of the Year finalist. Baca returns to his native Mexico, where he was born and raised before immigrating to the U.S. at age seven while the remaining three acquisitions all make comebacks of their own at Estadio Azul: defender Fausto Pinto and midfielder Xavier Baez from Toluca, along with defender Horacio Cervantes from Necaxa.
However -- and of significance for Sporting Kansas City -- four of the seven incoming players will be unavailable for Cruz Azul in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League. Baca, Baez, Pinto and Villarreal are all ineligible to play in the remaining rounds due to their prior participation in the group stage.
CONCACAF Champons League Ruling: Once having been properly inscribed on a roster list for one team, in any phase, a player may not be inscribed on the roster list for any other team in the CCL in the same season of competition, in any phase
On the opposite side of the transaction table, Cruz Azul sent three players packing from the capital city en route to Club Deportivo Guadalajara. Israel Castro is the most accomplished of the trio at age 33 with an apppearance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup sandwiched between his inclusion on Mexico's 2009 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup championship squads, while Jair Pereira played in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup and Francisco Flores is a prospect who earned a spot on Mexico's FIFA U-20 World Cup team in 2013.
The team's leading offensive options remain intact with 32-year-old midfielder Christian Gimenez agreeing to a new contract after recording 13 goals and eight assists in 2013 and fellow Argentine Mariano Pavone, 31, leading the team with 18 goals on the year. In net, 32-year-old José de Jesús Corona is the undisputed starter with plenty of international experience, appearing in the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
(Projected starting XI for Cruz Azul as
published by Record
)
Seeing a trend? According to El Universal's projected lineup, Cruz Azul could run out as many as seven starters over the age of 30. The side is not short on experience and that attribute is embodied most in 34-year-old captain Gerardo Torrado. The holding midfielder and three-time World Cup veteran has logged 143 international appearances, most among all active Mexico National Team players and third most in federation history behind Pavel Pardo (145) and Claudio Suarez (177).
The lone injury concern at the season's start affects Cameroonian midfielder Achille Emana, who led the team with four goals in the CCL group stage. The 31-year-old is sidelined with a right calf strain and is expected to miss the first two weeks.
Thus, optimism abounds around Mexico City for Cruz Azul in the 2014 Clausura leading Publimetro sports editor Jorge Almaraz to make La Máquina his pick to win the league. Cruz Azul kicks off the schedule on the road at Monterrey at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday at Estadio Tecnológico live on UniMas in the United States. The club's home opener comes one week later on Jan. 11 against Santos Laguna albeit in a closed stadium as a result of discplinary taken against the club for supporters invading the pitch in their 2013 home finale.
