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'Club Deportivo Social y Cultural Cruz Azul', also known as 'Cruz Azul', is a popular Mexican professional football 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 in 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. The club is also even with Club America for most CONCACAF Champions' Cup with 5. Cruz Azul was also the first (and still only) Mexican club to reach the final of the Copa Libertadores when they lost in penalties to Argentine soccer giants Boca Juniors. Which they bit 3-1 on the final of Copa PanAmericana. That was disputed in Phoenix, AZ

Contents

History

Copa Libertadores 2001

Apertura 2006

Clausura 2007 and the FMF sanction

Preparing towards Apertura 2007

Shirt Sponsorship

Current Roster

Squad changes for Apertura 2007 season

Affiliations

Notable Players

Players Produced Straight from Cruz Azul's Soccer Schools

External links

History

Cruz Azul was founded as an amateur team on May 22nd, 1927 by the workers of the cement makers Cemento Cruz Azul, 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 (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 Raul 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 a the youngest team to win eight championships in less then 40 years.

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.

Apertura 2006

In the 2006 Apertura he started off great,but in the middle of the season they had a hard time to add points up in the table.Cruz Azul recovered and finished the regular season as the leader in points of the general table.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 chances 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 didn't give up and Miguel Sabah tied the game 2-2 in the 62 minute. Cruz Azul played a great game and ended up tying the game 2-2, but losing 4-2 on aggregate.

Clausura 2007 and the FMF 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.

Preparing towards Apertura 2007

Cruz Azul prepares to face the Apertura 2007 tournament by boosting its Executive and Coaching teams. Mr. Eduardo de la Torre, a former coach in the mexican league, was hired as a Vice President of sports affairs, and after many gossip around the head coach role, coach Isaac Mizrahi is being replaced with Coach Sergio Markarian, native of Uruguay and tipped as an overachiever on tournaments in South America and Europe. The first player draftings that the team was able to make for this coming tournament, are defender Joaquin Beltran, from Club Necaxa and midfielder Gregorio Torres, from Club Atlas. In July they will be having practice sessions in the beach in Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico. The team is currently preparing for the Apertura 2007 where they hope to take the title, which has been denied to them for almost ten years now. Their website has recently been remodeled into a new page, where supporters can now express their opinions and suggestions. As a pre-season expedition Cruz Azul participated in La Copa Panamericana. Which they won in the final against Boca Juniors 3-1.

Shirt Sponsorship

Cruz Azul is currently being provided jerseys by English company Umbro who also provides jerseys for teams such as Chile's Colo-Colo,Brazil's Atletico Paranaense, France's Olympique Lyonnais and the very England National Soccer Team.

Current Roster

Squad changes for Apertura 2007 season

'In:'

★ 'Gregorio Torres' on loan from 'Atlas'

★ 'Joaquin Beltran' on loan from 'Necaxa'

★ 'Denis Caniza' bought from 'Atlas'

★ 'Carlos Bonet' bought from 'Libertad'

★ 'Cristian Riveros' bought from 'Libertad'
'Out:'

★ 'Salvador Carmona' Banned for lifetime from any competition by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

★ 'Adrian Sanchez' loaned to 'Puebla'

★ 'Walter Vilchez' loaned to 'Puebla'

★ 'Gabriel Pererya' loaned to 'Atlante'

Affiliations

★ 'Primera División A': Cruz Azul Oaxaca

★ 'Segunda Division': Cruz Azul Hidalgo

★ 'Tercera Division': Cruz Azul México

Notable Players

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'Mexico:'

★ Pablo Larios

★ Óscar Pérez

★ Melvin Brown

★ Francisco Palencia

★ Carlos Hermosillo

★ Ricardo Osorio

★ Francisco Fonseca

★ Jose Luis Ceballos

★ Javier Sanchez Galindo

★ Eladio Vera

★ Javier Guzman

★ Cesar Villaluz

★ Tomas Campos

★ Julio Zamora

★ Benjamin Galindo

★ Ignacio Flores

★ Fernando Bustos

★ Hector Pulido

★ Guillermo Mendizabal

★ Juan Carlos Cacho

★ Aaron Galindo
'Argentina:'

★ Miguel Marin

★ Miguel Angel Cornero

★ Hector Adomaitis

★ Luciano Figueroa

★ Marcelo Delgado

★ Daniel "Cata" Diaz

★ Cesar "Chelito" Delgado

★ Federico Lussenhoff
'Paraguay:'

★ Denis Caniza

★ Carlos Jara Saguier

★ Jorge Luis Campos
'Ecuador'

★ Alex Aguinaga

★ Agustín Delgado
'Italy:'

★ Carmelo D'Anzi

★ Mauro Camoranesi
'Peru'

★ Juan Reynoso

★ Walter Vilchez
'Uruguay:'

★ Roberto Siboldi

★ Richard Nunez
'Honduras'

★ Carlos Pavón
'Brazil:'

★ Julio César Pinheiro
'Chile:'

★ Alberto Quintano

Players Produced Straight from Cruz Azul's Soccer Schools

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'Mexico:'

★ Oscar Perez - Cruz Azul (MEX)

★ Ricardo Osorio - Stuttgart (GER)

★ Rogelio Chavez - Cruz Azul (MEX)

★ Joel Huiqui - Cruz Azul (MEX)

★ Francisco Palencia - UNAM (MEX)

★ Juan Carlos Cacho - Pachuca (MEX)

★ Marvin Cabrera - Pachuca (MEX)

★ Aaron Galindo - Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)

★ Melvin Brown - Chiapas (MEX)

★ Alejandro Corona - Chiapas (MEX)

★ Julio Cesar Dominguez - Cruz Azul (MEX)

★ César Villaluz - Cruz Azul (MEX)

★ Edgar Andrade - Cruz Azul (MEX)

★ Tomas Campos - Chiapas (MEX)

External links

★ Official site

★ Primera División

★ BlueStation (Unofficial Site)