Tijuana settles for draw against Veracruz in Mexican football

Tijuana (Mexico), Oct 14 (IANS)   Tijuana remains outside the top eight of the Mexican football league standings heading into Saturday's games after settling for a scoreless draw here against a short-handed Veracruz club.

The Xolos went all out for the three points once midfielder Diego Chavez was sent off in the 65th minute of Friday night's game at Estadio Caliente Tijuana, but they were unable to capitalize on their numerical advantage, reports Efe. 

Argentine striker Gustavo Bou was the most active offensively for the host club and had three decent chances against Veracruz goalkeeper Meliton Hernandez, who saved two of them.

His teammates Miler Bolaños and Ignacio Malcorra each had a pair of opportunities against Hernandez, but their shots were deflected away.

Argentine striker Cristian Menendez posed the biggest threat against the Xolos' goal but was unable to get anything to the back of the net.

The match was physical and testy, with six Tijuana players and four Veracruz players picking up yellow cards and Chavez also being shown a red card.

With the draw, Tijuana is currently ninth in the Apertura (the first of two championships in the 2017-2018 season) with 15 points and needs to move up over its final five regular-season matches to qualify for the eight-team playoffs.

Veracruz is in 11th place with 14 points, but under Mexico's complicated relegation system still is last in the relegation table, which takes into account results over three seasons instead of only one.

This week's action began on Wednesday with Toluca's 3-1 win over Lobos BUAP, while on Friday Queretaro and Puebla played to a 2-2 draw.

Saturday's matches will pit Cruz Azul against America, Apertura-leading Monterrey against Pachuca, Leon against Tigres UANL, Necaxa against Pumas UNAM and Guadalajara against Morelia.

On Sunday, Santos Laguna will take on Atlas.