So many dramatic stories have been written about how Cruz Azul lets victories slip away that tonight at the Olympic Juarez, the “Maquina Celeste” almost used the verb “cruzazulear” again, letting a three-goal lead slip away and ultimately defeating FC Juarez 3-4.

This victory represents Cruz Azul's third of the tournament, demonstrating their ability to go from the sublime to the ridiculous in a single game. This time, they had goalkeeper Andres Gudino as their guardian angel, and the border team wasn't more aggressive in their pursuit of snatching the result from the Cementeros.

Cruz Azul did everything right and wrong in over 100 minutes, because after taking a 3-0 lead in the 38th minute of the first half with goals from Agustin Palavecino after 48 seconds, Jose Paradela at the Six minutes and Carlos Rotondi's goal at 38 allowed their opponent to live in the final minutes of the match and they almost snatched the victory away. A key factor in preserving the Cruz Azul victory was goalkeeper Andres Gudino, who practically denied Juarez four scoring opportunities. Juarez, after twice trailing by three goals, managed to pose a threat to the Cementeros. Cruz Azul even managed to overcome a very harsh penalty, where VAR was complicity in ruling a handball inside the area by a Cruz Azul player with his back to goal. Colombian Oscar Estupinan converted the penalty to make it 3-1. Especially since in the second half, after Carlos Rodriguez restored the three-goal lead to 4-1, all sorts of negative events unfolded for La Maquina. First, the Brazilian Guilherme made it 3-2 with a spectacular bicycle kick and then Uruguayan Gabriel Fernandez was sent off, putting the Cementeros on the ropes with ten men to hold the score with a two-goal difference. To make matters worse, in the final minutes Oscar Estupinan scored his second goal to make it 3-4, causing all the ghosts of Cruz Azul to reappear—those ghosts that have made them suffer humiliating defeats in the playoffs against Pumas, America, and Chivas, but which tonight they escaped by the skin of their teeth.