Cruz Azul: the end of the Juan Reynoso era is near

“Reynoso will only continue if he wins the League, but obviously the club is already analyzing other options,” a source confided to ESPN.

The days of John Reynoso in Blue Cross They seem to be numbered.

The last coach who was league champion with La Maquina, on May 30, 2021, could conclude his cycle with the cement team just one year later, unless he achieves the feat of guiding Blue Cross in this Clausura 2022 towards his tenth star in Liga MX.

“Reynoso It will only continue if it wins the League, but obviously the club is already analyzing other options for the next tournament”, he confided to ESPN a source with knowledge of the internal situation in the team.

The Peruvian strategist has a contract until December 31, 2022, but the source consulted assured that the relationship between the technical director and the board has been tensed to a point close to breaking.

The relationship began to deteriorate in the second half of last year, when Blue Cross thought of becoming a vintage team but the results were a harsh reality check.

When they had set out to win four titles (two official and two friendly trophies) in the second half of 2021, La Máquina Cementera could only win the Champion of Champions against León, but later fell to MLS’s Columbus Crew in the Champions Cup, lost by a landslide against Monterrey in the Semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League and also suffered a painful defeat by a landslide against Rayados themselves in the 2021 Apertura Repechage, after a Regular Phase very different from that of the first half of the year, when it took the league title with everything and having tied the historical mark of 12 consecutive victories in Mexican soccer.

That semester would mark the end in Blue Cross of more than half of the players who won the ninth star, since including the Ecuadorian Bryan Angulo, dropped three weeks ago, 14 of the 26 footballers registered in the Apertura 2021 between the months of December and January, plus the aforementioned Angulo at the end of last March.

Another source consulted confided to ESPN what Reynoso He did not agree with the board that the team be dismantled in this way, especially that of the Peruvian Yoshimar Yotún, in whom he counted as a profitable player in midfield.

The source consulted confirmed ESPN what Reynoso He requested several reinforcements from the board, but in general none of the first options to shore up each line reached the team, but the signings came from the board.

But perhaps the date that ultimately marked the destiny of the era Reynoso in front of Blue Cross It was on February 11, one day after the abrupt departure of then sports president Álvaro Dávila along with his closest collaborators such as executive director Héctor Lara and director of operations Gabriel Saucedo.

On the morning of that Friday, February 11, Reynoso understood that most of the team leaders did not have a good relationship and did not accept the return of Jaime Ordiales as sports director to technically occupy the position that Dávila had, with which the Peruvian coach threatened to resign from his position before the president of the Board of Directors, Víctor Manuel Velázquez, who had castled due to irreconcilable differences with Dávila.

Yes ok Reynoso stood in front of Blue Cross, the truth is that the team collapsed. After winning 10 points in the first four days (83.3 percent effectiveness), before Dávila’s departure, the cement producers have barely added 11 units in the following 10 dates (36.6 percent effectiveness), product of three victories, two draws and five losses, four of them at the Azteca Stadium.

Also at home, they were eliminated against Pumas in the semifinal second leg of the 2022 Concachampions, last Tuesday, April 12, when La Maquina was unable to overcome the 2-1 deficit in the first leg by equalizing 0-0 at the Azteca , despite having played the last 35 minutes with one more player on the pitch.

As if that were not enough, prior to that return match against Pumas, Reynoso’s first technical assistant, Joaquín ‘N’, was arrested for alleged serious crimes, which, according to one of the sources consulted for this story, resulted a “strange” event for the Peruvian, who did not agree that the club published the statement on the final withdrawal of his assistant without “supporting him as an institution” nor doing it just an hour after the elimination against the feline team.

From the club it was understood, on the contrary, that it was essential to separate from Joaquín ‘N’ immediately given what the authorities reported to the club, an arrest for crimes against health, organized crime and money laundering, although “El Negro ” or “El Moroco”, as Joaquín ‘N’ is known in Mexican soccer, was released this Monday night due to the lack of evidence from the Prosecutor’s Office against him, after six days in detention and in the that players, coaching staff and former soccer players or former coaches who knew him always defended his innocence.

This latest disagreement between Reynoso and Velázquez is simply one more step towards what seems inevitable: the end of the cycle of Juan Máximo at the head of Blue Cross at the end of this tournament, just one year after reaching maximum glory with the cement team after a long drought of 23 and a half years without league titles.