Toluca Tops Santos with Penalty Kicks

For the last five years the second week in July brings the Minor League Baseball All Star Break and Liga MX to the Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas.  This year was a rematch of the 2017 contest, seeing the Club Santos Laguna and battle the Deportivo Toluca F.C. 

 Santos, founded in 1983, most recently won the Mexican Clasura Division champion, the club’s sixth tournament title.  Santos is led by Salvador Luis Reyes, who was named manager in August 2018.   Toluca, founded in 1917, has the third most wins in Liga MX, having won the league championship 10 times.  First-year manager Ricardo La Volpe leads Toluca.  

Liga MX is a faster paced game compared to Major League Soccer or United Soccer League competition in the United States, even in this friendly exhibition match.  In today’s match the usual starters deferred to the less experienced players vying for a position on the roster. 

Santos controlled the action on the field and the noise in the stands, but it was Toluca that scored first.  Alexis Canelo, the 25-year-old midfielder from Argentina, found the back of the next on a break away in the tenth minute of play.  Matheus Dorian evened the score for Santos in the 35thminute of play on a score. 

The tilt of the field in the second half favored Santos, but Toluca defense led by goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera did not break.  The match ended a 1-1 draw, forcing penalty kicks. 

Toluca prevailed in the penalty kicks 4-2.  Kevin Castaneda, Brandon Sartiaguin, Kike Triverio and Alexis Lopez all put the ball past Santos goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo.  Adrian Lozano and Matheus Doria each scored for Santos.