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Cruz Azul Focused On Strong Finish, Not Start
Cruz Azul players said their focus is to do well at the end of the season and not peak in Jornada 1.
Jul 21, 2009 1:02:41 PM
But while the team hopes to improve from the start, getting an early lead atop the overall league table is not something the team is trying to accomplish.
"It will be tough but some team is going to get out ahead in the opening weeks of the season, but the preseason is not for that," defender Melvin Brown told Mexico City daily Reforma. "It's to prepare to try and play your best football in the last weeks of the season and enter the Liguilla with everything."
Cruz Azul finished in dead last in the Clausura 2009 season, the first time the club has accomplished that ignominious achievement. In the preseason, Brown said their work went well and that they were able to prepare adequately against their competition.
"We moved the ball around very well, who marked us tightly," Brown said of Cruz Azul's final preseason match, a 1-1 draw against Tigres on the weekend. "Our idea of how we should work together is coming around."
Manager Enrique Meza took over and the players have adjusted quickly to how the former Pachuca manager wants the team to look this upcoming season.
"The team is doing well and there are just details now that have to correct," Cesar Villaluz said. "We've responded to what the manager has asked of us and with each passing game the team is looking better and better."
Villaluz said the team won't come out and play its best football of the season against Jaguares this weekend - but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"I don't believe we'll peak against Jaguares," he said, "but we will play at a higher level."
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