On Friday, Club Tijuana can achieve something they have never experienced in the Apertura portion of Liga MX when they host CD Guadalajara at Estadio Caliente.
In their opening league fixture, La Jauria squeaked out a narrow 2-1 triumph versus Queretaro, while Chivas could only manage a 0-0 draw with Toluca.
Match preview
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Juan Carlos Osorio's tenure began in a successful fashion as Tijuana won their opening game of the Apertura for the first time since July 2020 (3-1 over Atlas).
Since being founded in 2007, this club have never won their opening two matches of an Apertura campaign, but a victory on Friday would not only achieve that, it would also equal their longest winning run domestically from a season ago.
All six of their victories in the opening phase of this competition last season occurred at home, though Tijuana only claimed three points once in the most recent Clausura.
Los Xolos never lost a match when scoring the opening goal in the most recent Clausura season, while their victory last week was the first time since April (1-0 win over Juarez) that they had drawn first blood in a domestic affair.
They have points in five of their last six league fixtures in which they have netted multiple times, winning two consecutive games when doing so.
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Well over a month after a narrow defeat to Club America (1-0 on aggregate) in the Liga MX Clausura semi-finals, Guadalajara have begun the new season disappointingly.
Fernando Gago's men are now goalless in their last four matches across all competitions but only suffered one defeat over that stretch.
The other side of that, however, is that they have been very sharp defensively in Liga MX, without a goal conceded in four consecutive domestic affairs dating back to the Clausura season and not counting the playoffs.
Entering this fixture, the 12-time Liga MX winners have won three consecutive league fixtures away from home without conceding a goal in that span.
Chivas have points in nine consecutive league contests versus Tijuana and have not lost an away match against them in this competition since 2018 (2-1).
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Team News
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A week ago, Tijuana began the 2024 Apertura season without Carlos Valenzuela, and the Argentine midfielder is not expected to return from his knee injury until late August.
Carlos Gonzalez scored after 21 minutes on matchday one, but it was a 68th-minute strike courtesy of their new midfielder, Domingo Blanco, that gave them the three points.
There were four new faces in the Chivas starting 11 last week who did not begin their second-leg tie with Club America in May, including Erick Gutierrez, Cade Cowell, Carlos Cisneros and the top all-time goalscorer with the Mexican national team Chicharito.
Goalkeeper Raul Rangel has not conceded in four consecutive Liga MX encounters, not counting the playoffs, and he stopped two Toluca efforts last Saturday to preserve a clean sheet.
Club Tijuana possible starting lineup:
Rodriguez; Mejia, Bilbao, Gomez, Diaz; Rivera, Madrigal; Alvarez, Reynoso, Blanco; Gonzalez
CD Guadalajara possible starting lineup:
Rangel; Mozo, Sepulveda, Orozco, Castillo; Guzman, Beltran; Cowell, Alvarado, Barajas; Chicharito
We say: Club Tijuana 1-0 CD Guadalajara
Despite their overwhelming experience and quality on paper, Chivas's final ball has let them down many times in recent outings, and it may take some time for them to regain their confidence in front of goal.
Tijuana showed plenty of poise and resilience in their opening game, while they look like a more dynamic and creative group that could create some surprises this season, including on Friday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
