C.D.S.C. Cruz Azul
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cruz Azul | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Club Deportivo Social y Cultural Cruz Azul A.C. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | La Maquina Celeste La Maquina Cementera Los Conejos De Cruz Azul |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | May 22, 1927 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Azul Mexico DF (Capacity 35,000) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner |  Guillermo Álvarez |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | none | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | La Primera División | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clausura 2008 | Finals 3rd (league) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club Deportivo Social y Cultural Cruz Azul , also known as Cruz Azul, is a popular Mexican professional football (soccer) club. Cruz Azul plays in the Primera División de México and its home venue is the Estadio Azul, located in the southwestern part of Mexico City in the Colonia Nochebuena, next to the Napoles neighborhood. The team moved there in 1996, after playing for many seasons at the Estadio Azteca.
Los Cementeros are traditionally one of the biggest and most successful teams in Mexico; they have been first division champions 8 times, tied with Toluca, and trail only Club America with 10, and Guadalajara with 11. Cruz azul is a young team they have only been playing in the first division since 1964 and with 8 championships. The club is also even with Club America for most CONCACAF Champions' Cup with 5. Cruz Azul was also the first Mexican club to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores when they lost on penalties to Argentine soccer giants Boca Juniors. Currently the clubs jerseys are being provided by Umbro.
Contents |
[edit] History
Cruz Azul was founded as an amateur team on May 22nd, 1927 by the workers of the cement makers Cemento Cruz Azul and Macario Acosta, located on the town of Jasso, Hidalgo. Cemento Cruz Azul still sponsors the team, although sponsorship is currently shared with Coca-Cola and Telcel.
Guillermo Álvarez Macías and Carlos Garcés were the main figures behind the creation effort and the quick success of the team, which frequently represented the state of Hidalgo in national amateur tournaments.
From 1927 to 1960, the amateur team played many times in Mexico City, against the reserve squads of established professional teams such as Club América, Necaxa, Atlante, Asturias and Marte. Considering the increasing success of the team, the new administration of the cement company (which changed its name to "Cooperativa Cruz Azul") decided in 1960 to build a stadium in Jasso, the Estadio 10 de Diciembre, and officially registered the team on the professional ascent division, the Segunda División for the 1960-61 season.
By 1964, under the Hungarian coach Jorge Marik, the team won the Segunda División championship, earning the right to play the following season in the highest circuit of professional football in Mexico, the Primera División.
That first season ended with an eighth place finish and increased hopes for the future. Just 4 years later, Cruz Azul won its first league tournament, under coach Raúl Cárdenas.
Cruz Azul became the most successful Mexican team of the '70s, winning the league tournament 6 times between 1970 and 1980, four of them under Raúl Cárdenas, and the last two with Ignacio Trelles at the helm. Such dominance earned them the nickname La Máquina (The Machine), which is still used as the unofficial nickname of the team.
1997 brought the team its eighth and most recent championship during the Invierno 1997 tournament under coach Luis Fernando Tena, making this the youngest team to win eight championships in less than 40 years. Cruz Azul is also the first team to win the first edition of La Copa Panamericana.
[edit] Championships
- Mexican First Division: 8
- 1968-1969, México '70, 1971-1972, 1972-1973, 1973-1974, 1978-1979, 1979-1980, Invierno 1997.
- Copa Panamericana 2007 (friendly tournament)
- Copa Libertadores
- Runners-up (1): 2001
- CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 5
- 1969, 1970, 1971, 1996, 1997
[edit] Copa Libertadores 2001
In 2001, Cruz Azul was invited to a tournament between some Mexican and Venezuelan teams. The two best teams of this tournament earned the right to play in the Copa Libertadores, a tournament of the all the best teams of South America. Cruz Azul qualified for the Copa Libertadores in its first try, and reached the final match. Cruz Azul was placed in Group 7 along with teams such as Sao Caetano, Defensor Sporting, and Olmedo. Cruz Azul finished leader of the group with 13 points. In the round of 16 Cruz Azul faced Cerro Porteño. The first leg was played in Asunción and Cruz Azul lost 2-1. The second leg was played in Mexico and Cruz Azul won the game 3-1. The aggregate score was 4-3 in favor of Cruz Azul and they moved on to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals Cruz Azul faced CA River Plate of Argentina. The first leg of the match was played in Buenos Aires and ended in a 0-0 draw. The second leg was played in Mexico and Cruz Azul won 3-0. Cruz Azul was having a great run and played Rosario Central in the semifinals. The first leg was played in Mexico and Cruz Azul won the game 2-0. The second leg was played in Rosario in a very exciting match which ended in a 3-3 draw in favor of Cruz Azul due to the 2-0 victory in the first leg. In the final match, Cruz Azul played against the Argentinian club Boca Juniors, Cruz Azul lost at home the first leg 1-0, but came back to win the second leg with the same score, at Boca's stadium La Bombonera. Until then, no team had ever won a Copa Libertadores final match there. After the overtime due to the tie, the championship was decided by penalty kicks, where the more experienced Boca Juniors prevailed. Still, Cruz Azul surprised everybody with the unprecedented feat of reaching the final on their first try by defeating established Brazilian and Argentinian teams such as Sao Caetano, Rosario Central and CA River Plate.
On July 19, 2005, Cruz Azul's coach Ruben Omar Romano, who had taken over as coach of the club in December 2004, was kidnapped after a training session outside the club's headquarters. He was released on the 21st of September and came back to coach the team very shortly afterwards. His assistant Isaac Mizrahi, who had stood in for Romano during his kidnapping, replaced him as coach on the 15th of December 2005.
[edit] Apertura 2006
In the 2006 Apertura, the team started off great but in the middle of the season, they had a hard time adding points on the board. Cruz Azul recovered and finished the regular season as the points leader. They have not won a title since the championship they won against Leon in 1997. For the Apertura 2006, Cruz Azul made it to the quarterfinals and faced Chivas in the Estadio Jalisco. In the first leg, Cruz Azul played a very poor game and lost 2-0. On November 25, 2006 Cruz Azul played the second leg at Estadio Azul and played a brilliant game. Cruz Azul started off strong and put Chivas keeper Oswaldo Sanchez to the test on many occasions. In the middle of the first half, defender Salvador Carmona pushed a Chivas player in the penalty area and cost Cruz Azul a penalty.Ramon Morales had no problem and put the score 1-0 in favor of Chivas in the 39th minute. Cruz Azul kept creating opportunities and at the end of the first half, Cesar Delgado made a great play that Richard Nunez finished with a goal to tie the game right before halftime in the 45th minute. In the second half, Chivas scored thanks to Ramon Morales again to put the score 2-1 in favor of Chivas. Cruz Azul did not give up and Miguel Sabah tied the game 2-2 in the 62nd minute. Cruz Azul played a great game and ended up tying the game 2-2 but losing 4-2 on aggregate.
[edit] Clausura 2007 and the F.M.F. sanction
In the 2007 Clausura the team had a great start, finishing among the first 8 teams in the league that went to playoffs. The team had a great quarterfinal series against the Tecos of the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, thanks to two magnificent goals from striker Richard Nuñez and moved to semifinals against Pachuca FC, the top team in the league. Pachuca beat Cruz Azul in the Estadio Azul in the first leg of the series with a strong 3-1. Cruz Azul still had a chance to overcome the adverse score, but on that same evening, the Court of Arbitration for Sport communicated that team captain Salvador Carmona was declared ineligible with immediate and lifetime effect, because of a repeated doping indiscipline that occurred back in January of 2006. The sanction was dated May 18th 2007, the very day of the first match against Pachuca. Arguing that player Salvador Carmona did play on that day for Cruz Azul, the Mexican Soccer Federation, aka Federacion Mexicana de Futbol sanctioned Cruz Azul by suspending the team one game from competition, under the argument of aligning an ineligible player. Many legal arguments have been raised by both the player's lawyer and Cruz Azul, but the sanction stood and Cruz Azul lost its opportunity to overcome the 3-1 and go to the final series against America.
[edit] Stadium
- See also: Estadio Azul and Nuevo Estadio Azul
The team currently plays in Estadio Azul. The stadium is located in Mexico DF. The Federal District owns Estadio Azul. Currently, Cruz Azul training facilities are located at Xochimilco.
The team is planning construction of a new stadium, Nuevo Estadio Azul, will be located on same location of the current stadium after it is demolished, in 2010 with a 38,418 capacity.
Although still they lack several steps to realise, the building that would replace the present Blue Stage exists already in the paper. It would count on four levels of underground parking, which would be first in constructing, and two levels of space for the commercial premises, besides a ceiling that would cover the divided launching slips high and general generally low. Also there would be three levels of theater boxes. This first draft constitutes the idea of the new home of the Cruz Azul, that not only would lodge to the Maquina in its encounter like the premises, but also would be available for concerts and spectacles of all type. Last Friday, the president of the club, Guillermo Alvarez Caves, admitted that the project could receive green light in this same 2008, once all the problems are solved that the construction of a stage entails, like delegacionales permissions and negotiations with neighbors of the zone. In case of taking shape the agreement with the Cosío family, present proprietor of the building, Cruz azul would act like new owner, and the previous ones would have the concession of floors both destined for the commercial center. So that it takes the work, the directive still requires of several very specific factors. First, to obtain the pertinent permissions of the Delegation Benito Juárez and the Secretary of Urban Development and House of the DF, soon to make specific with the Cosío the company/signature of the agreement. Later, the elaboration is needed an executive project, with a considered cost of $2 million, and in addition, to deliberate where the Cruz Azul would play during the construction and if this movement would occur at the end of this Closing 2008 or until the end of Opening 2008. All this must be approved by president Guillermo Alvarez Caves and the General Assembly of the Cooperative Blue Cross. THE NAME, ON SALE The new stage of the Machine will be continued calling Blue, but to the name it adds a space to accommodate to him the mark to him that decides to buy the rights for “baptizing” to the cementero building. To initiate or it construction of the new celestial house does not depend on several factors, among them to conclude the studies that guarantee to the project like autofinanciable, and that Alvarez, the Blue Cross president, gives the approval. So that the Cooperative owner of the equipment does not contribute money will be necessary that the construction is possible from the income by televising concessions, of foods and drinks, as well as by the sale of the name of the stage, explained the vice-president of the celestial equipment, Victor Garcés. “We know to how much we can aspire by concessions of television, by food concessions, those of drinks, by the name of the stage, all that, that would be obvious Blue, but moored to another mark”, it assured the manager.
[edit] Current Roster
|
|
[edit] Confirmed transfers
In:
Out:
[edit] Notable Players
[edit] Famous Cruz Azul players playing abroad
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
