Sophomore Naylah Velazquez, rooting for the  Club America, watched with anticipation as the classic showdown between her team and Cruz Azul went head-to-head in soccer last weekend. In the end, Club America pulled off a win with a 1-0 score.

Looking back,  the stats show that Cruz Azul had more possession and more control of the ball. “But, ” explains Velazquez, “they didn’t take advantage of it as well as America did.” Continuing, she adds, “America was less in possession, but when they had the chance the attack, they took it. It looked like they had way more intentions of winning this important game.”

Velasquez attributes the fewer possessions to a missing member in the backline. “Jorge Sanchez was definitely missing in the right back, as he helps take more possession from the back line and up.”

Reviewing even further, the highlights for the game show there were four goals made in the first 25 minutes, but only the one made during the first five minutes  counted. Was the game robbed by the ref counting offsides and unwritten rules, as some fans suggest?  In simple terms, the offsides rule states that “a player is offside if they are in the attacking half and closer to the opposing team’s goal-line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.”

“The ref seemed to have called an offside without it actually being offside a couple of times,” Velasquez insists. “Looking at highlights, it seems as if he counted the guy who did not have possession. If it’s not the ACTUAL one who had the ball possession, it does not count as an offside.”

Whether win, lose, or draw, these two teams are certain to face one another many more times. Since 2017, Club America holds a 7-8-5 record against Cruz Azul.