Liga MX final shifts in Cruz Azul's favor after Mateus Uribe injury
The Colombian midfielder is the club’s leading assist provider but will likely miss the second leg after leaving Thursday’s 0-0 draw injured
Was it his knee? His ankle? Both?
Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Mateus Uribe had to leave the field in the 57th minute and immediately was taken out of the stadium. First it looked like he was heading for the ambulance, later he ended up leaving in a private car. Either way, he was off to the hospital. Initial reports indicated he would miss the second leg. After an early-morning return to the America hotel and evaluation by doctors, there now is hope he could suit up. Yet it’s fair to say Uribe won’t be at his best Sunday if he sees the field at all.
That’s why despite a scoreless draw in the first leg, the balance of the series has shifted in favor of Cruz Azul. It will be their fans filling the Estadio Azteca with the advantage of facing an America that needs to score without its best provider.
Uribe has spent most of his America career as a two-way midfielder, but manager Miguel Herrera has tried him out in an even more advanced role on a number of occasions. He inserted Joe Corona into the lineup next to Guido Rodriguez to move Uribe farther forward and allow him to add to his seven assists on the season. But from the sixth minute on, Cruz Azul had America in check.
We knew something would have to give between the league’s highest-scoring attack and the stingiest defense. It turned out to be Cruz Azul’s back line, with Pedro Caixinha gambling on pushing Julio Cesar Dominguez out to the right back spot and bringing Igor Lichnovsky into the starting XI next to Pablo Aguilar.
There were some nervous moments from Lichnovsky, including a potential penalty during a clash with Bruno Valdez in the early going and several passes that bounced along the less-than-pristine pitch.
It could’ve been a worse first leg for Las Aguilas. Edgar Mendez was in late, bursting forward with a second wind in the 94th minute only to smash his shot off the crossbar and guarantee everything would be in the balance in the second leg.
There also was leading scorer Valdez, a defender, appearing to throw a punch at Lichnovsky in the second half. Perhaps referee Fernando Guerrero and the Video Assistant Referee booth let that one go after the sixth-minute incident. But Valdez was lucky to stay on the pitch, and America is even luckier that he’ll be on the field in the second leg. Uribe will probaly not, and forward Roger Martinez probably will not either after he left the match in the 80th minute with an injury of his own.
America is a deep team, so there are other options for Herrera. Martinez can be replaced in a straight swap with veteran Oribe Peralta, while Cecilio Dominguez can come into the XI and allow Diego Lainez to play in the center where Uribe had occupied the space. That could be a lot to ask of the 18-year-old, though, especially after he was kept quiet by Cruz Azul.
There’s everything to play for in the second leg. We knew it would be a closed first leg between these two teams, and we know it would look better for one team after tonight’s match. It looks better for Cruz Azul, even if Caixinha doesn’t want to hear that or let his players think that.
“I think our biggest work has been humility, the humility to be able to respect our opponents and know them deeply,” he said after the match. “We never can let ourselves get distracted. We’re focused on what we have, how the match will go and what we’re going to do in the game. We’re only interested in one thing: Winning.”
That’s much more likely now, with Uribe likely out, with Martinez likely out and with Cruz Azul coming off another game in which it was able to keep its opponent in check and get a clean sheet.
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