Santos need at least a two-goal win at home on March 1 in order to keep their hopes alive.
Cruz Azul, beaten finalists in the last two editions of this tournament, got goals from Javier Orozco and Christian Gimenez to claim the victory.
Both sides sent out strong lineups for the match as neither team apparently took the match lightly. Santos sent out Christian Benitez and Carlos Darwin Quintero up top to start the match while Cruz Azul countered with their own potent duo of Orozco and Emanuel Villa.
With all the firepower on the field to start the match, though, it wasn’t until almost an hour had gone by that the game saw a goal. Javier Aquino took the ball on the right side of the penalty box for Cruz Azul and sent a ball towards the far post. The ball deflected off a Santos defender and Orozco pushed the ball across the goal line with his chest and gave Cruz Azul a 1-0 lead.
Gimenez doubled the lead 10 minutes later he broke in alone on Santos’ Oswaldo Sanchez. Villa sent Gimenez a well-placed through ball over the top of Santos’ defense. Gimenez darted into the penalty area and sent a ball over Sanchez, who batted at the ball but couldn’t stop the ball from settling into the back of the net.
Cruz Azul kept pressuring until the final whistle and had several opportunities to extend the lead but were unable to beat Sanchez a third time.
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Cruz Azul 2-0 Santos: Maquina Land Convincing CCL Victory