MARTIN ON THE RISE

TIJUANA – Henry Martin has been patient. He waited for his chance since arriving to Club Tijuana last semester. His patience has paid off. Things are starting to happen for the young Xoloitzcuintles striker He has began to become a familiar face in coach Daniel Guzman’s lineups.

Martin participated in this season’s Copa MX scoring several key goals. He scored his first top-flight goal in LIGA MX and now has won himself a spot on the starting lineup two games in a row against Queretaro and Chivas of Guadalajara.

“Before anything I want to thank Daniel Guzman for the confidence he has given me,” Martin said on Monday morning following the team’s training session at the Estadio Caliente. “It goes to show I have been doing things correctly throughout the week. I feel you have to take advantage of those opportunities that don’t come by often.”

The Xoloitzcuintles have three remaining games - against Toluca (away), Atlas (home) and Leon (away) - in which it will look to wrap-up its qualification to the playoffs. Martin has a clear vision of what needs to be done and where the team can improve.

“Of course (it is a relief that the team is generating chances), imagine if we didn’t generate goal scoring opportunities” Martin said. “We would be in trouble. If the team didn’t create those opportunities, how would you win? Games are won by scoring goals and if you don’t generate then you can’t win.

“We as a team we generate a lot of opportunities. This is soccer, sometimes we score them and sometimes we don’t. We have to keep working so that if we generate 10 opportunities we can score five or six of them.”

The final stretch of the regular season begins next Sunday in Toluca. Xoloitzcuintles is currently in third place of the league table with 24 points, just one point behind league leading Chivas of Guadalajara.

“We have three very complicated games left.” Martin said. “Going to Toluca is never easy. But we don’t have any other option but to go and get the best possible result and come home and focus on the next game.”

Martin knows that each of the three remaining games will be a difficult test for the Xoloitzcuintles. The entire league is very tight and many teams still have hopes of qualifying to the playoffs if they get on a good run in the final games.

“You never know who will win. The level of competitiveness is very even in Mexico,” Martin said. “You can never underestimate any rival. The closing of the tournament will be very tight. You can win and jump into first place or lose and drop down low in the table.”