On Tuesday, Eduardo de la Torre, sporting director of Cruz Azul, wanted to lower expectations to a minimum and emphatically stated that winning the league title is not an obligation for La Maquina, and emphasized that for this Apertura 2017, the only thing they have been asked for is to secure qualification, something that has not been achieved in the last three years.
However, the history of La Maquina, as well as the crisis they are currently experiencing, obliges them to aspire beyond just qualifying for the playoffs. With almost 20 years without being champions, Cruz Azul must always prioritize the league title.
In addition, for this season, in which Paco Jémez has been given a vote of confidence, the team is obligated to other matters related to how they will approach the Apertura 2017.
1. QUALIFY FOR THE PLAYOFFS
According to Eduardo de la Torre, Cruz Azul's main objective this season is to qualify for the playoffs. La Maquina has gone three years (six tournaments) without even managing to make it into the top eight of the league table. Before this crisis - the worst in the team's history - Cruz Azul was one of the most consistent teams in the so-called "fiesta grande"; in fact, they had never gone so long without having the possibility of competing for the league title. Therefore, Cruz Azul has no choice but to make it into the playoffs this season, otherwise, another project could fall apart.
2. DISPLAY GOOD FOOTBALL
Cruz Azul chose to give Paco Jémez's project a vote of confidence, despite the failure of the past semester. The board is convinced that with the Spanish coach, good times will return to the capital team. The respectable end to the previous season, as well as the football they displayed at times during the games, invite optimism.
With six months of adaptation, Jémez's Cruz Azul not only has to qualify for the playoffs, but also must display attractive and offensive football, as it was the hallmark of the coach and had good sensations last season, despite the poor results achieved.
3. BE AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS
As in every season, Cruz Azul is one of the teams that presents the best balance for the competition. Yes, it's true that in past seasons this has amounted to very little because the team did not achieve their objectives. However, this time there is no margin for error and the Cruz Azul team must meet the expectations.
La Maquina must qualify without suffering or by chance. One of the obligations of this team is to once again be a protagonist from the regular season, to be one of those teams that lead the competition during the 17 matchdays. If they don't finish as the leader, at least they are expected to finish among the top four.
4. AVOID EXCUSES
Last season, Cruz Azul played well but didn't achieve the expected results. Then the excuses began to arrive, the biggest one being bad luck. Several times Paco Jémez repeated the phrase "I've never experienced this in my entire career," in reference to Cruz Azul's inability to win their games.
But not only the past semester has been filled with excuses, this has been a constant in the last three years. Three coaches have come and gone, as well as two interim periods, and La Maquina has not been able to engage in self-criticism to return to the top of Mexican football.
5. HAVE QUALITY PLAYERS
No one doubts that semester after semester Cruz Azul makes an effort to hire quality players to strengthen their squad. Furthermore, the foundation that has been built has important experience, to the point that they currently have three Chilean internationals, an Ecuadorian, as well as Jesús Corona in the Mexican national team.
However, the board has also bought players who simply did not work out, either due to a lack of adaptation, because their quality was not enough, or because they were not given any patience. In these three years, players like Lizarazo, Alemao, Roque Santa Cruz, Federico Carrizo, Aníbal Zurdo, among many others, have come and gone, players who were expected to deliver much but simply did not perform.
6. SHOW A TEAM WITH PERSONALITY
Many times, individual quality alone is not enough for a team to be solid and demonstrate character on the field. In the three years in which Cruz Azul has failed to make it to the playoffs, La Maquina has been a team lacking in personality, and this "cold" team image has become stronger.
In fact, during this time Cruz Azul has seen its reputation plummet with terms like "cruzazulear" and countless memes on social media that have increased the level of mockery towards La Maquina. This Apertura 2017 is an obligation to recover self-esteem and show that the team can once again have personality.
7. THE LEAGUE TITLE
Although Yayo de la Torre does not assume it as such and perhaps, to alleviate pressure, states that Cruz Azul's only obligation is to return to the playoffs, the truth is that La Maquina must always have the obligation to be champions, especially now that they are going through the worst crisis in their history.
The Cruz Azul institution must be a contender every season. The 20-year title drought obliges the team to strive for this objective, and anything that falls short of this should be considered an outright failure.
Although everyone rightfully says that the title is something that cannot be promised, at least in discourse there must prevail the determination to fight for it until the end.