Cruz Azul Post Mortem 2009

With the loss to Atlante last night, Cruz Azul's season is now officially over. I would have put an R in the title but I think by now everyone knows Cruz Azul is just not winning anything.

Yesterday's game was horrible. I can't believe I was able to watch it all.

So where are we ? I'm hoping for big changes come August. This group is totally unmotivated. Talk about going down without a fight. Over the weekend I saw the Veracruz vs. Socio Aguila game in the Primera A Liguilla. Veracruz fought like crazy to overcome a 0-2 deficit and they did it. Cruz Azul was just going through the motions. They came into this game certain that they would not win. You'd think that they would have tried to find it within themselves to show something to make up for all they lacked through the season. I don't know who will still be with the team for 2009-2010, but if last night was an indication, I'm thinking only a handful of players will be returning.

As to Galindo. Man, the whole Galindo era was strange. I was willing to give him a past last season. I figured he was inheriting Markarian's team and it would take him time to get settled in. Somehow they made it to the final. I didn't think they were playing particularly well, but somehow they were getting the job done. Once in the liguilla they found ways to advance. The final was lost on the first leg (as has been Cruz Azul's trademark recently) but the second leg was probably their best match of the season. This season seemed to be where all the luck they had last year evaporated. Things evened out so to speak. Did they take too long to dump Galindo ? Probably, but having taken Cruz Azul to the final gave him some leeway with De La Torre and Alvarez. If we'd had a mediocre season before, Galindo would have been gone much sooner, so in a way that worked against us.

All in all I guess I'm glad we got the chance against Toluca in last years final. We even came close in the end. Now it's time to rebuild.

I know Landin scored goals but I really don't think he's the answer up front. Vela might work out but he needs a lot more consistency. Zeballos should be dumped.

Villaluz needs to dig deep. I don't know what happened to him but he's lost confidence. If he stays, he needs to be fighting for a roster spot because he's no longer an automatic starter.

Pinto has had injuries but he was nowhere near what he was with Pachuca. He should get a shot at staying.

Lozano should be let go.

Lugo and Torrado I would keep.

Riveros and Bonet are iffy. Again, they didn't have a particularly good season (well, almost nobody did) but they are good players. Bonet especially needs to get back on track.

The whole defense needs rebuilding. I would only keep Dominguez out of the current bunch. Beltran definitely has to go.

To conclude - an embarrassing season. It was plain to see that the team had lost confidence in Galindo. It may have been that given the good run he had in his first year, he figured he could continue to ride the wave of what was basically Markarian's team, but really, the team had not been playing good futbol and he should have seen that.

The current rumor is that Daniel Guzman is next. If this is the case, then he needs to come on board as soon as possible. This is a team in need of an overhaul.