DANIEL GUZMAN CAN’T WAIT TO FACE QUERETARO

TIJUANA -Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente manager Daniel “El Travieso” Guzman lead the team practice on Wednesday night at the Estadio Caliente with high spirits and great excitement for Friday night’s game against Queretaro. He is still fine-tuning some details prior to the match up against the Gallos Blancos.

The manager is still contemplating what his starting lineup will be for Friday. Especially regarding his three National Team players; Greg Garza and Joe Corona (USA) and Javier Güemez (Mexico). He will analyze whether the three are in optimal conditions to see any action in the Week 13 match. The manager wants to ease the workload on his players in order to avoid any serious injuries.

“Today is an important day,” Guzman said. “It is the day where we work out the tactical aspect of our game plan. Today decides how we will attack them and how best to defend against them.”

The international break allowed Guzman the opportunity to work out a few details with his team. He would have loved to have his complete team available, but it is a great pride for him to have his players called up to represent their national teams. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication that the players have put in.  

Regarding the next opponent, “El Travieso” believes there is lots of hype around the team because of their one star. But the objectives are clear for the Xoloitzcuintles.

“If we want to qualify to the playoffs, we have to come out and play a perfect game,” Guzman said. “We can’t allow even a second for this type of player (Ronaldinho) to pick up inspiration.

“We will work as a team, we will work to put together that perfect game like we did against Santos, and hopefully we get there. We can hardly wait for the game, if we have a perfect game we could walk away with three important points. Although Queretaro will be a tough challenge.”

Guzman mentioned that he has complete faith in this team that has worked towards earning qualification. He indicated that while there are still possibilities, they will exhaust all options and give their maximum effort. He insisted that he sees a motivated team that wants to make it to the next round of the LIGA MX.

“With the goal and the determination that this team has, you won’t see anyone giving up,” Guzman said.  “Plus the 15 days we had off, we worked with this group of players and we helped them get into the best physical condition possible. And when you are at that level of fitness you play at a different level. And now all I want is for it to be Friday already to get the game going. All of this time off only has us anxiously awaiting kickoff.”

Guzman expects his Xoloitzcuintles continue to show it is a well-balanced team and that it can attack well and defend. He wants to see a team that has the experience to play against difficult opposition, a team that knows how to stay 100-percent focused. Guzman said he will look to keep a well organized defense while attacking with a purpose.”