With a little more than one week remaining before the start of the Bicentenario 2010 season, Cruz Azul manager Enrique Meza said his team's recent stretch of finals appearances bodes well for the upcoming season, despite the losses the team suffered.
"To lose a final, you have to get to the final," Meza told reporters after a recent Cruz Azul training session. "That suggests we're close to the title, because (three) finals were lost in two years, over four seasons, so we're close to the title."
After finishing second in the overall table during the regular season, Cruz Azul lost to Monterrey in the Apertura 2009 final. Despite featuring the league's top goal scorer in Emanuel Villa as well as key newcomers in goal (Jose de Jesus Corona) and on the sidelines (Meza) as well as strong seasons from several key players, including Jaime Lozano and Gerardo Torrado, Cruz Azul still walked away empty-handed.
Meza said part of the setback was due to a divine reason.
"We're all praying to God always, the majority of us," Meza said, "and there are times when God says 'Today is your turn and today it is not your turn.' I never questioned God when things were going well and much less will I question when things go bad."
Losing however has not made Meza or anyone on the club any less hungry for the title.
"I want to win. Our president certainly wants to as well and if you ask the players, they will tell you that they don't just want to play in a final but win one," he said.
For the upcoming season, the club has picked up some key reinforcements in the club's push for a fourth finals appearance in the last five seasons. The club beefed up the roster by adding foreigners Christian Gimenez, Maxi Biancucchi and Edcarlos Coneicao as well as welcoming back Israel Lopez, who left the club after the Apertura 2007 final just before Cruz Azul began their run.
Even if the critics are out in full force, however, Meza said he will plow right along.
"Who will deny me the right to dream about making history with Cruz Azul? Nobody, and that's what I came for. I didn't just come to improve my image or for economic gain. I came to work," he said. "Always it's said that it's going to go bad for me, all my life. I am used to going against the grain. For me, this is nothing new. Every time things are supposedly going to go bad, I get bolder and I believe things will go good."
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