Posted by Back in the late 1970s, Cruz Azul were Mexico’s most important club. “La Máquina” (The Machine) won 6 of their 8 league titles during that decade, including a three-peat from 1971-72 to 1973-74. When Cruz Azul won their 7th league in 1979-80, they were only one behind Chivas for the designation of Mexico’s winningest club.
Since the heady days of the ’70s, however, Cruz Azul have won only one league title, which came in the Invierno 1997 tournament. They have been passed by América and Toluca in the league title count, with super-rich northern sides Tigres (7 league titles) and Monterrey CF (5) looking likely to eventually pass “La Máquina”. Despite such a long stretch of disappointing results, Cruz Azul are still one of Mexico’s biggest clubs. They are the 3rd-most popular team in Mexico behind Chivas and América. Furthermore, they are one of Mexico’s richest clubs, and possess the 4th-most expensive squad in the league according to Transfermarkt.
Although the various players and coaches who have passed through Cruz Azul since the 1979-80 title win deserve plenty of blame for the poor results of the last 40 years, ownership is most at fault for the lamentable on-pitch performances. Cruz Azul’s ownership structure is atypical in the world of football. The team is controlled by the cooperative Cementos Cruz Azul, one of the biggest cement makers in Mexico. Despite the money Cementos Cruz Azul have pumped into the team over the years, ineptitude at the boardroom level has undermined numerous sporting projects. Under Guillermo “Billy” Álvarez, team president and general director of Cementos Cruz Azul since 1988, “La Máquina” are renowned for signing players mid-way through the season, giving them little time to adapt to the team. Even more worryingly, the club have a reputation for ceding to agents control of which players they sign, particularly the influential Carlos Hurtado.
The chaos at the boardroom level has intensified since the turn of the century. Billy Álvarez has been in a long-running legal battle for control of Cementos Cruz Azul with brother Alfredo Álvarez and brother-in-law Víctor Garcés, with cooperative members split between the two sides. In an appearance at the national palace in Mexico City on January 13th, Billy was verbally attacked and pushed by cooperative members who were gathered there to protest against his leadership.
The legal dispute has created confusion as to who is really in charge of Cruz Azul. This disorder was seen most recently with the resignation of sporting director Ricardo Peláez this past September. Reputed for his work at América, where he helped Las Águilas to two league titles and two CONCACAF Champions League crowns, the signing of Peláez in the Spring of 2018 was a coup for “La Máquina”. Billy Álvarez duly gave Peláez full authority to shape Cruz Azul’s squad. Former Mexico National Team forward Peláez wasted no time in making important changes, spending an eye-watering $45 million in the summer of 2018 on a mix of proven Liga MX performers and promising youngsters. Crucially, these players were brought in weeks before the start of the season, giving them time to properly bed into the side. This improved preparation enabled “La Máquina” to get off to a flying start in the Apertura 2018, where they eventually finished first in the regular season.
However, Cruz Azul lost the final that season in limp fashion to bitter rivals América. After a disappointing beginning to the Apertura 2019 campaign, Portuguese coach Pedro Caixinha was fired on September 2. It was expected that Peláez would have the final say on who the next manager would be, especially considering that Caixinha was already in the job when Peláez arrived at “La Máquina”.
In the days following Caixinha’s dismissal, numerous reports indicated Peláez’s preference for former Monterrey coach Antonio “El Turco” Mohamed. However, Mohamed did not arrive, and the situation came to a head on ESPN Deportes’ popular nighttime program “Fútbol Picante” on September 5, when Victor Garcés was invited to the show. Garcés announced Uruguayan Robert Dante Siboldi as Cruz Azul’s next coach live on air, which caused Peláez to call into the show and offer his resignation, citing that he had never met or worked with Garcés during his entire time as Sporting Director. Peláez’s resignation was formalized the next day, with Billy Álvarez absent as Garcés and Alfredo Álvarez, presenting themselves as Vice Presidents of Cruz Azul, unveiled Siboldi.
Since the departure of Peláez, Cruz Azul have returned to their typical organizational incompetence. Although Cruz Azul were eliminated from Liguilla contention for the Apertura 2019 on November 10, they did not hire a new sporting director until Jaime Ordiales came in on December 20th. Unsurprisingly, the new signings for the Clausura 2020 have come late, leaving “La Máquina” desperately short in key positions for their first two matches amidst an injury crisis. Inexperienced academy products Santiago Giménez and Alexis Gutiérrez started in the 2-1 home defeat to Atlas in round 1, while wide forwards Elías Hernández and Roberto Alvarado were played out of position at wing-back. Besides former Santos winger Misael Domínguez and backup goalkeeper Guillermo Allison, the other five players named to the bench for the Atlas match combined for 24 Liga MX appearances.
The case of center-forward Giménez is particularly illustrative of the shoddy management that reigns at Cruz Azul. Senior strikers Brayan Angulo and Martín Cauteruccio were shipped off before the season began, leaving Gímenez as the backup to starter Milton Caraglio. When Caraglio fractured his metatarsal in the preseason match against Toluca, Gímenez was left as the only recognized center-forward for Cruz Azul’s first two matches. Defeats against the aforementioned Atlas and at San Luis in round 2 leave Cruz Azul already playing catchup in the race for a Liguilla place, and new signings Lucas Passerini and Alex Castro probably won’t be ready to help the squad for another few weeks.
Although they are some of Mexico’s most loyal fans, attendance numbers for Cruz Azul home matches have taken a steep drop in recent months amidst the disaster at the boardroom level. Inspired by the new signings brought in by Peláez, “La Máquina” had the 2nd-highest average attendance totals the Apertura 2018 behind Tigres. However, they were 14th in average attendance in the Apertura 2019, and had the lowest attendance of any team that season when only 7,176 fans showed up for their round 19 match against San Luis. Low attendance numbers have been accompanied by #SiboldiOut trending on Twitter repeatedly since he took over. While Siboldi seems out of his depth and incapable of restoring the glory days of the ‘70s to Cruz Azul, their long-suffering fans should focus their anger at the directors who run the team. Until Billy Álvarez, Alfredo Álvarez and Victor Garcés are removed from the club, “La Máquina” are unlikely to win their 9th league title anytime soon.
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