The Mexican Soccer Federation kicked off “Soccer Week” in Cancun with the annual meeting of league officials and team owners. A status report of the 2014-15 year was presented and the schedule for the upcoming Apertura 2015 season was released.
Club Tijuana will begin the season with a handful of high-profile matches against a pair of championship teams. The Xoloitzcuintles will begin the season by facing three of last season’s playoff teams in its opening four matches: at Pachuca (Week 1), at Santos Laguna (Week 3) and home against Veracruz (Week 4).
The Xoloitzcuintles under new head coach Ruben Romano open the season on the road against Pachuca FC, a team that reached the semifinals after eliminating heavy favorite Club America. Santos Laguna is the defending champion and Veracruz finished in second place in the standings last season. Squeezed between the season opener and the match against the 2015 Clausura champion Santos is the Xoloitzcuintles home opener, a Friday night match against Dorados de Sinaloa July 31 at Estadio Caliente. Dorados won promotion to the First Divison after beating Necaxa in the 2015 Clausura promotional playoff.
The home opener against Dorados could be an interesting affair. Dorados is part of Grupo Caliente, the main Club Tijuana sponsor. Dorados could carry a handful of former Club Tijuana players into Estadio Caliente that night, some who led the team to its first LIGA MX title in the 2012 Apertura and grew out of the Xoloitzcuintles youth system.