Toluca's furious rally keeps Red Devils alive, Leon-Tigres back to square one after draw

Jon Arnold

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Toluca's furious rally keeps Red Devils alive, Leon-Tigres back to square one after draw image

Furious rally saves Toluca's hopes

Toluca had to come back. After Raul Ruidiaz converted from the penalty spot to give Morelia an away goal, getting a goal was the top priority for the Red Devils. Morelia allowed fewer goals than all but three teams during the tournament and had the advantage of an away goal.

It wasn't like Toluca wasn't finding chances. Once Morelia had found its goal, Toluca manager Hernan Cristante made modifications both in the way the team played and in personnel in an attempt to turn the tide. Even he wouldn't have thought that his team had not only one goal but two in it during stoppage time. Fernando Uribe scored the equalizer with Pablo Barrientos following shortly after with a deflected goal from a set piece that gives his side the advantage heading into Saturday's deciding match in Morelia. 

There was a bit of luck, but it also was deserved for a Toluca team that had put in the work to get a victory. Doing the same in the second leg against a Morelia team that will be more open than it was in the first leg and still can stretch teams with Ruidiaz and Diego Valdes.

Draw brings series of big cats back to square one

Leon had chances going forward in Wednesday's first leg of its series with Tigres but couldn't keep Tuca Ferretti's squad from getting an away goal and leaving with a 1-1 draw.

"I think we should think about the next match as though it's 0-0 and look to keep the clean sheet and look for a goal that will give us more calm and move on from there," Ferretti said.

The home side's goal was typical to style, with the team winning the ball back just outside its own box and hitting Tigres on a counter-attack finished off by top scorer Mauro Boselli. Unfortunately for Leon and coach Gustavo Diaz, the club's trademark defense also showed up, allowing Eduardo Vargas to get a look from the top of the box that crept past goalkeeper William Yarbrough.

WIth Luis Montes and Hernan Burbano out because of injuries, Leon's attacking depth has suffered. That's why it's even more confusing that the team didn't continue getting the ball to Andres Andrade's feet after his early success getting past Luis "Chaka" Rodriguez or move him to the other wing where in the team's previous meeting his tricks resulted in Jorge Torres Nilo losing his cool and putting in a two-footed tackle to earn a red card.

There was no such fire Wednesday. In fact, the game lacked a lot of the intensity of a typical Liguilla match. Instead of a red-hot contest, the match was played at more of a slow boil. The uncharacteristically high number of empty seats at the Nou Camp didn't help.

Even though the home leg is gone and Tigres is yet to lose in El Volcan this tournament, Leon has to feel thankful it got out of this game level. Sure, the team had other good chances it didn't convert, but Tigres had a strong shout for a penalty when Javier Aquino was brought down in the 38th minute and Andre-Pierre Gignac's shot off the crossbar just after the hour mark goes in more often than not.

Jon Arnold

Jon Arnold Photo

Jon Arnold covered the Mexico national team and Concacaf region in English for Goal until March 2020. His byline also has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the New York Times Goal blog, FloFC and Pacific Standard. In addition to his written work, he serves as the Concacaf expert on the BBC's World Football Phone-In and has appeared on SiriusXMFC in English and Fox Deportes and Milenio in Spanish. Formerly based in Tijuana and currently living in Texas, Jon covered the 2018 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America, the 2016 Copa America Centenario and the last five Gold Cups.