Cruz Azul end 2022 as Copa por México champions, as revival continues under Raúl Gutiérrez

With the score deadlocked at zero, Gonzalo Carneiro received a pass out of the back with his chest, evading a potential interception, and kicked the ball across the field past the halfway line. Alexis Gutiérrez sprinted forward to meet the ball, set it up to himself with his left, drove it into the box with his right, used his left again to move the ball past a Chivas defender just off the top of the box, sliding the ball across the side netting to the right bottom corner of the net. 

Like that, the joyous singing at the Estadio Akron and the chants of "Vamos Rebaño, Queremos la Copa!" (Let's go herd, we want the cup) disappear. But the noise didn't just vanish. It was replaced with the sound of despair that comes when an opposing team scores. A four-match winning streak had brought hope to Chivas fans that the preseason would end with a trophy. Then, just like that, the former Guadalajara academy player Gutierrez put Cruz Azul up 1-0 in the 66th minute of the Copa por México final on Friday night. 

"This is a new opportunity for me and I don't want to waste it," Gutierrez said in a post-match interview on the network TUDN after the match. "I'm working hard and I want to consolidate myself this season here at Cruz Azul."

Gutierrez has tasted success with Cruz Azul, joining the club in 2019 and experiencing the Liga MX title victory during the Guardianes 2021 season. He spent 2022 back at his boyhood club, on loan, at Chivas' second team Tapatío in the Liga de Expansión MX. With that loan now expired, and a coach in charge who has a track record of succeeding with younger players, the 22-year-old midfielder hopes for a breakout year. His first obstacle is earning playing time and this goal certainly helps his case.

Carneiro was not done getting himself into form for the season opener. In the midst of Chivas searching for the equalizer and a penalty shootout to decide the preseason cup, Cruz Azul's Uruguayan duo of Christian Tabó and Carneiro kept driving forward in attack. Tabó ran into a crowd of three defenders but the denial ended to be a gift for his countryman. Carneiro used his first touch to smash the ball into the net and ice the game, 2-0, in the 86th minute.

The 27-year-old forward was celebrated by his teammates, falling to his knees to thank the heavens after. Just a handful of minutes later, the final whistle blew and Cruz Azul ended their preseason with a 3W2D0L run in the Copa por México.

The club's goalkeeper and iconic captain, José de Jesús Corona, led the celebrations by lifting the cup in front of the Cruz Azul faithful present in Zapopan, Jalisco. Though just a preseason tournament in hindsight, this trophy is like a ray of sunshine breaking through clouds of darkness, and given the club's recent times, it feels like what could be a start to ending turbulent times in La Noria.

"Even though we know that it is a friendly tournament, I think it suits us very well to start the league," said Corona to TUDN. "We are going to show this type of face throughout the tournament and that is going to be very important. Commitment, determination and conviction will be very important and above all the internal competition that may exist will also help us all."

There's been a lot of change with "La Maquina" after that glorious title run. A stalwart at Cruz Azul since 2009, Corona has seen virtually everything but the recent years at the club have arguably been the most unstable. Important contributors of that championship team moved on, the coach that ended a 24-year drought was fired, and the club experienced constant changes at the top executive position. The fall from grace hit rock bottom when the club lost 7-0 to Mexico City rival Club America last August.

A few days after that defeat, Raúl Gutiérrez was brought up from coaching the under-20 squad to right the ship as the interim manager of the first team. Cruz Azul finished 7th in the Apertura 2022 standings and was eliminated by Monterrey in the playoff quarterfinals.

The interim tag has been removed and Gutiérrez approaches his first full season at the helm of the Liga MX club. Astonishingly, the manager that led Mexico to its 2011 FIFA Under-17 World Cup conquest is only now getting his first chance to coach in the Mexican first division.

"Happy because all the preseason work that we planned, and that was complemented by these games, leave us all a positive balance," Gutiérrez told TUDN. "It is just a plus that strengthens us and we are happy to win it, of course."

Cruz Azul begins its Clausura 2023 campaign on Sunday, January 8 when it visits Club Tijuana. The club will play its first home match the following week in a playoff rematch against C.F. Monterrey at the Estadio Azteca on January 14.