For Club Tijuana Femenil, the 2024/25 Liga MX Femenil campaign is all about redemption.
They missed out on the 2023/24 Clausura tournament Liguilla (play-off) stages after picking up just six wins from their 17 matches, so they are targeting a return to that part of the season this time around.
When looking at the current standings in the ongoing Apertura campaign, it does appear as though they are on track to meet that goal.
They sit seventh at the time of writing, level on points with eighth-placed Querétaro Femenil and a point ahead of Atlas Femenil in ninth.
Add to that that Guatemala striker Aisha Solórzano is currently the third highest scorer in the tournament, with nine goals to her name, and things look very promising for the Baja California outfit.
However, when drilling deeper into their performances and results, it soon becomes clear that that is not the complete story.
Some significant issues in their play are currently holding them back and hindering their prospects of remaining above the dotted line.
In particular, their defending has left a lot to be desired at times, and it is one key reason that they have been very inconsistent, having won five and lost four.
With that in mind, this tactical analysis will take a closer look at Club Tijuana’s game, highlighting the positives to see what they can be pleased about at this early stage and where they need to focus their efforts to ensure that they don’t miss out on the playoffs for a second consecutive tournament.
Club Tijuana Femenil’s Attacking Threat
As mentioned, the attacking side of things has been largely positive for Tijuana Femenil, with them showing plenty of confidence and having a clear game plan whenever they enter the field.
As a result, they have generally proven to be a test for their opponents, with them netting 23 times so far (an average of 2.3 goals per game) and only failing to find the back of the net on two occasions in the Apertura.
What has made that possible is head coach Juan Romo’s desire to keep things simple around the field.
Tijuana’s tactics are not based on complex principles but instead revolve around players executing the basics correctly and connecting with each other around the field.
That has been especially noticeable when they have been in transition, with them looking to keep the ball on the ground whenever they can and utilising the spaces their opponents leave open between their lines.
There is no doubt that keeping things as easy to implement as possible is a reason for them being so positive with the ball at their feet and registering a 73.6% passing accuracy.
There have been times when they have needed to work a little harder to create those gaps, but that has never phased them.
Instead, it has allowed them to demonstrate their mobility and interchangeability, with players rotating positionally and working in a well-oiled manner as they try to tease their opponents’ structures apart.
This is one situation when that is clear to see, with midfielder Amanda Marroquin’s pass not as clean as she would have liked it to be and Solórzano dropping back to get on it before the Puebla Femenil players in the vicinity can react.
The key thing to note at this stage, though, is not Solórzano’s action but the positioning of the two ahead of her, which is what really allows a shot to come about here.
As can be seen, neither of them has sought to immediately invert; instead, both have stayed in their channels.
That is key as it gives Solórzano options as to where she can send the ball and makes it a lot harder for Puebla to negate the opportunity.
On this occasion, what let the visiting side down was their decision to gravitate towards the ball as soon as it had been passed into the far side channel.
This left space open for Iraida Fernández to drift infield and get herself into a position to shoot at goal.
However, credit needs to be given to Tijuana for going through the process methodically.
It is clear that they have worked hard on this aspect of their game and that it is paying off.
The role that Solórzano played in facilitating that opportunity should not be understated, and the fact that she has had 5.83 touches inside the penalty area but has also registered a 66.7% accuracy for passes to the final third so far shows that she can create as well as score.
However, there is no doubt that Tijuana prefers her to be leading the line.
She offers a significant attacking presence amongst the opposing defenders and is one of the main reasons that her side has been so productive in front of goal.
In this case, she received the ball after an excellent build-up play by Marroquin and left-back Victoria López, and she is now in a position to take the ball into an area where she can try her luck.
She has been faced by Puebla players and so is not immediately able to send the ball towards goal, but her 1-v-1 duelling ability means that this is rarely a problem.
She retains the potential to move off in either direction and, therefore, adds to the unpredictability that is rife within Tijuana’s offensive play.
On this occasion, she looked to cut inside the field but saw her effort blocked by the retreating Rubí Villegas.
The fact that she scored only a few phases after this highlights just how dangerous she has been and, therefore, why she has been one of the shining lights in their campaign so far.
However, Tijuana is not solely reliant on her.
Instead, they have multiple weapons at their disposal who can all test opponents’ resolve on their day. Forwards Daniela Espinosa and Costa Rica international Melissa Herrera offer yet more mobile goalscoring threats, while Panama attacking midfielder Marta Cox has proven to be a shrewd acquisition after her close-season departure from Pachuca Femenil.
Having so many different profiles in the squad has provided Tijuana with a rich variety of things that they can turn to, enabling them to tweak their tactics accordingly and to ensure that they always have the best chance possible of breaking their opponents down.
This is highlighted clearly when looking at their three most-favoured formations, with a 4-2-3-1 the most-used (35% of the time), whilst a 4-4-2 has been seen in 20% of their matches and a 3-3-3-1 or 4-3-3 in 10% of them.
Each allows for a different number of attackers and alternative setups in midfield.
In this case, they have come up against a Juárez Femenil side who have looked strong at times this season and who appear more secure than Puebla were.
As a result, those same progressive passes are not possible and Cox instead here shoots from range, missing the target but ensuring that Tijuana were still able to pose a threat even with the change in circumstances.
On another occasion, when facing Toluca Femenil, Tijuana adopted a more direct approach as they sought to exploit the gaps that their opponents left open at the back.
Overall, this season, 60% of their counterattacks led to a shot on goal.
Therefore, this shows that Tijuana has different systems and shapes to switch between whenever they need to mix things up.
If football was all about what happened inside the final third, then there would be many backing them to go deep into the Liguilla rounds.
Tijuana Femenil’s Problems In Defence
However, football is not solely about the final third.
Any team that wants to be successful needs to marry a strong offensive threat with solidity at the back.
Unfortunately for Tijuana Femenil, as mentioned at the beginning of the scout report, this is where they have often let themselves down.
They struggle at times to apply the same principles as soon as they lose the ball, making themselves very easy to score against as a result.
When looking back at each performance, they will be really frustrated that so much of what has been going wrong is so easily avoidable, with a lot of it coming down to individual errors and poor teamwork.
This is a perfect example of that, with Club León Femenil advancing up the field and looking to transfer the ball into the middle.
At first glance, it appears as though Tijuana will be able to deal with the threat through their evenly-spaced defensive line.
However, that quickly starts to unravel as players don’t communicate with each other and leave themselves far too open.
The first sign of those cracks comes when Mónica Alvarado starts to move further back towards the goal than central defensive partner Bianca Mora, and that is then exacerbated by the latter player drifting towards the ball but not making any attempt to close down Brazilian forward Isadora Freitas and allowing her to both take the ball beyond her and to then cut it back under very little pressure.
However, where Tijuana really paid the price, here was the way that they failed to track the run of Lizbeth Ángeles.
At this moment in time, she is ahead of the goal area and is looking to offer a central passing option for Freitas to find, and it should have been easy for Tijuana to marshal her threat and to stop her from doing just that.
However, with Mora drifting out towards the ball and Alvarado needing to keep an eye on Yashira Barrientos behind her, the task of marking Ángeles falls upon Inglis Hernández, who then turns her back completely and so had no idea of the León player’s run into the gap until it was too late.
As a result of all of these, what looked initially like a chance that Tijuana would cut out actually ended up with León finding the back of the net very easily.
It is not hard to see why Romo’s side have conceded 17 goals so far (an average of 1.7 per game) when looking at how open they have been.
The other thing that has been apparent is that they have been far too static at times whenever opponents move towards them.
In this case, eight players have tracked back to halt Atlas’ advance, and once again, it looks as though they have a numerical advantage and should be able to bring the move to a controlled ending.
However, none of the eight are able to dislodge the ball from El Salvador forward Brenda Cerén’s feet.
A few attempt, but most wait and watch as she weaves her way into the middle of the field.
Cerén has always been a dangerous player to afford too much time and space, with her renowned for twisting through lines and playing in a very rotational manner.
Yet Tijuana didn’t seem to recognise that and instead allowed her to get a shot away at goal that might have missed the target but should never have come about.
As with so much of this analysis, this is a repeat offence by the Mexican side.
They demonstrated the same pedestrian nature when facing Portland Thorns during the recent NWSL/Liga MX Summer Cup (which took place during the Olympics).
As the match went on, it was clear that there was only one side in the game.
Portland dominated proceedings and spent a vast majority of the time in Tijuana’s half.
Their ability to score five on the day was largely due to the lack of resistance they faced whenever they did get into promising positions.
It is not only out of possession that they have been slightly questionable; they also show signs of poor quality with the ball.
This has predominantly come when they have been trying to play out from the back, which forms a key part of their game plan and is something that they have tried to implement whenever they have been on the field.
However, they have not had much success with it, and instead, it has often been the source of their problems, with them constantly overplaying the ball and inviting pressure from their opponents as a result.
On this occasion, it was not the choice of pass that was the issue but the accuracy of it.
Midfielder Esmeralda Verdugo did well to recover the ball following a loose pass in her direction by López, but then she sent the ball too far in front of her, forcing López to readjust her positioning.
This also handed León a chance to regain the ball through Freitas in an area from which they could then launch an attack.
As with so many of the points made in this section, this was an unnecessary error.
It shows how much of what has let Tijuana down and which sees them languishing in mid-table is that they have not demonstrated the same precision and clarity of thought inside their own third as they have higher up the pitch.
They have not yet faced Tigres Femenil, who have ex-Barcelona Femení striker Jenni Hermoso on their books, or Monterrey Femenil, with former Manchester United Women forward Lucía García in their ranks, but both sides (among other future opponents) can be guaranteed to take full advantage of these kinds of mistakes.
Therefore, if they are to stay in the Liguilla positions and have a chance of competing for the Apertura title, this is where the focus of their efforts now needs to be.
Tijuana Femenil’s Reasons To Be Hopeful
This is not to say that everything regarding their defensive play has been disappointing, though.
There have been plenty of things that they have done well.
As a result, those who follow the team and have anguished over the costly errors they have witnessed can have hope that they will be eradicated as the campaign goes on and will start to become an even more convincing outfit.
In particular, they have shown that they can deal with aerial threats and can control their airspace, with there being several occasions when teams have sent balls in and they have reached it first.
This was one of those moments, with Querétaro’s Barbrha Figueroa making her way up the far side wing and delivering a cross into the goal area, despite the best efforts of Bibiana Quintos to cut it off at source, but then seeing Michel Fong connect with the ball first before Aurora Suárez does.
With Andrea González offering help, this was a team effort, and one that demonstrated how tough to break down Tijuana can be when they do execute the detail correctly.
If they can show this level of awareness and determination to deal with challenges thrown at them on a more regular basis, then there is no doubting that they will start to win more games and become a much tougher side to score against.
That could be all that is required to turn them from a side hovering just above the play-off dotted line to one that has secured their place in the Liguilla rounds with time to spare.
However, even if that isn’t accomplishable, what they can and have fallen back on at times is their ability to close the ball down on the wings, with them constantly seeking to narrow the angles that their opponents have available to them when attempting to send the ball into the middle from wider areas.
In this case, Cruz Azul Femenil have possession and have made their way into the final third, but Nigeria striker Vivian Ikechukwu has been halted in her tracks by Mora instigating a press after spotting the danger.
The result of this is that Ikechukwu now has to decide whether to recycle the ball to a teammate further back, in the hope of her team having enough momentum to maintain their offensive threat, or to find a teammate in the middle through what is now a very narrow corridor.
In the end, she opted for the latter.
Still, her delivery was too high for Sarah Huchet to meet, and the ball also travelled too far for El Salvador forward Danielle Fuentes to control behind her, with the latter forced to move out towards the far side wing to recover it as a result.
Therefore, again, when Tijuana get the basics right and work to make themselves tough to beat, they generally succeed and do keep opponents at bay, or at the very least decrease the chances that they have of finding the back of the net.
This desire is something else that they need to show on a more consistent basis, with not doing so being one of the fundamental reasons that they have been so easy to penetrate in some matches.
It is also worth mentioning that, for all of the faults noted in this scout report, one thing that Tijuana have been generally good at is not committing too many fouls in threatening areas.
Instead, as this graphic indicates, they have largely made them further up the pitch and have sought to make it harder for their opponents to test them with direct crosses from dead ball situations in close proximity to the goal area.
There is an argument to say that this is only because of their desire to play with a high backline, and that may be true.
However, when considering that there have been a lot of defensive actions further back which could have led to fouls and yet didn’t, it is also true to say that Tijuana are aware of the areas from which they could be tested and so avoid giving their opponents opportunities to do just that.
If they can maintain that mentality and can pair it with improvements whenever teams do find their way into the final third, then there is hope that they will become a much more difficult side to break down.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has taken a close look at Tijuana Femenil, who appear when looking at the Liga MX Femenil Apertura standings to be having a solid season but who still have plenty to work on when breaking down the ins and outs of their performances.
As the analysis has gone on, it has become clear that a lot of what has let them down has come whenever they have been without the ball, when they seem to lose the composure and concentration that they have consistently demonstrated in possession.
That needs to change if they are to secure a place in the Apertura Liguilla stages.
They are currently among those positions but only just, and they can’t afford the same slip-ups that have been apparent in many of their outings so far.
As has been shown, though, their problems are not things that can’t be remedied, which will encourage those watching them and agonising over their current issues.
Suppose they can start to pass with more precision, recognise when it is the right time to play out from the back and when it carries too much risk and can show more unity of thought.
In that case, they can certainly become a much trickier side to negotiate and one that ask a lot more questions of their opponents as the season goes on.
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