Cruz Azul was able to pick up an agonizing win against Leon on Thursday after coming back from a 1-0 deficit. The team scored the game winning goal in stoppage time thanks to an Uriel Antuna cross that was headed home by Alonso Escoboza. Not everything ended well for the team though. As Cruz Azul was headed into the locker room Ivan Morales, and captain Jesus Corona were spotted shouting insults at each other.
Quickly other players from the squad stepped in to provide some distance between the two. At the time of writing we don’t have an official version as to what exactly took place. Regardless of how the beef got started, is this something that’s going to come back and bite Morales? The Chilean striker has only been able to find the back of the net once as a Cruz Azul player even though he’s not even a new signing for this season. Was this the final nail on his coffin at Cruz Azul?
¡Mi CAPITÁN! 🧤@jesuscorona01 pic.twitter.com/xVZaIV3BhR
— CruzAzulNoNoNo (@CruzAzulNoNoNo) September 16, 2022
Corona Will Be Preferred Over Morales
There’s no reason to sugarcoat this Morales’ time at Cruz Azul has been terrible. He’s a striker that’s only scored one goal in a year. Let’s be honest about this as well, there are strikers that have gone through these dry spells, and the best way to be able to keep getting chances is to at least work their butt off on the field. Morales though constantly exhibits poor judgment across the board. Potro Gutierrez gave him a chance to show what he’s got in his first game on the job, and he got himself sent off in his first play of the game. You can’t be doing that and expect to gain many friends in the locker room.
This last incident is another exhibition of poor judgment. Regardless of what may have transpired on the field at the end of the game you can’t air out your frustrations for all to see. Worst yet have your rival be team captain Jesus Corona. It’s just dumb! There’s no question that Corona will be preferred in the locker room over Morales. We don’t talk enough about how hard it can be for some of these younger foreign born players to adapt to Liga MX. The media scrutiny that they are up against is usually way more extensive than they ever realized. Making a name for yourself in Liga MX is not easy, and if you’re not mentally prepared to handle the ups and downs this league eats you up!
The Best Course Of Action May Very Well Be To Remove Him From The Squad
Manager Potro Gutierrez is probably going to try and broker a peace deal between the two players. Perhaps what took place isn’t even as serious, and the two guys have patched things up by this point. Optics matter a lot though, and at Cruz Azul everything gets blown out of proportion. You already have two guys on the squad in Baca, and Cata Dominguez that fans can’t stand. As previously stated in this beef the fans are going to side with Corona. What do you do then?
The best thing to potentially defuse the situation will be to remove Morales from the first team squad. You have Estrada, and Carneiro infront of him in that striker spot to begin with. There’s even Tabo who can play that position if you need him to. Antuna has also been used up top at times. In short the team won’t miss Morales’ one goal count. The best way to squash the beef, and not let it dominate the headlines is to remove him from the squad and start looking for a team to loan him out to next season. He’s proven he’s not good enough to play at Cruz Azul.
