Alejandro Guido Deserves to Start Against Chivas After Captaining Xolos in Copa MX
Credit: Xolos
This past Tuesday, the Tijuana Xolos played their round of 16 match against Monarcas Morelia away from home.
The game ended 2-2 in regulation time, but Club Tijuana took home the victory and the ticket to the quarterfinals via a penalty shoot-out that ended 4-2 in the Xolos’ favor.
Eduardo Coudet made several adjustments to his starting XI in that game, using just two consistent starters in his lineup, Damian Perez and Emanuel Aguilera. Perhaps the biggest shock was that American midfielder Alejandro Guido sported the captain’s armband in the game. Several experienced players like Aguilera, Perez, Michael Orozco, and Juan Carlos Nunez featured in the game, but the 23-year-old served as the captain for the match. He had a solid game, playing 83 minutes of the round of 16 match before being subbed out for countryman Joe Corona.
The Chula Vista native was an exciting player heading into this season as he had looked impressive in preseason games, and seemed to be a promising player after using the Clausura 2017 to recover from an injury. Guido played in the Xolos’ season opener against Cruz Azul, but along with the rest of his teammates, did not shine as Club Tijuana fell 2-0 at the Estadio Caliente.
Since then, the young midfielder has received opportunities to start in the Copa MX and one other start in the Liga MX. The former Mater Dei student shined in that other start coming in week 10 of the competition against Lobos BUAP.
Guido filled in as a defensive midfielder in place of Damian Musto, who was serving a suspension. The American is more of a creative midfielder than a defensive midfielder, similar to Joe Corona, but he did solid work in that role and showed his versatility. The 23-year-old finished the game with an 81-percent pass accuracy, and more impressively, won eight out of 10 duels and had three interceptions.
Eduardo Coudet has been struggling to find that third midfielder to go along with Damian Musto and Ignacio Malcorra to gel everything together. Guido has yet to play alongside the pair in a 5-3-2 formation as a starter and may prove to be the ideal player to fill that role. Other players like Luis Chavez and Joe Corona have not looked impressive lately, and it is time to give the 23-year-old a chance to fill that starting role.
The upcoming game against Chivas de Guadalajara this Saturday would be ideal as Guido will have the motivation and confidence of having served as the Xolos’ captain on Tuesday. Hopefully, Eduardo Coudet can give the Chula Vista native the much-deserved chance of starting that match and competing for that midfield slot.
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.