How many times have Cruz Azul lost the opening two games in the last 10 years?

Two matchdays into the Apertura 2023 and Cruz Azul are still waiting for their first win. It’s not the first time that they have started a tournament with two defeats during the last ten years - they also started on the wrong foot at the start of the Clausura 2021, losing the opening game to Santos and the following one against Puebla. History has repeated itself this year.

In general, it is unusual for the Cementeros to start with two defeats - in the 21 tournaments since the 2013 Apertura championship, there have only been two other occasions when they have suffered the worst possible start to a campaign.

First, let’s go back to the Clausura 2021 - an inauspicious start against Santos on the opening day, with Chilean Diego Valdés scoring the only goal of the game. A week later against Puebla on matchday 2 at the Azteca, Cruz Azul were beaten by the same result - Uruguayan Christian Tabó firing in the winner.

Going even further back, to the Clausura 2020 where they lost in their opening match against Atlas 1-2 with goals from Jeremy Márquez and Ignacio Jeraldino then slumped to a second consecutive defeat to San Luis seven days later with goals from Luis Reyes and Germán Berterame making worse what was already a miserable week for the Cementeros.

Positive starts for La Máquina

On the hand, there have been very encouraging starts during the past ten years - three straight wins in the Clausura 2022 tournament starting with a 2-0 victory over Tijuana 2-0 with goals from Carlos Rodríguez and Rafael Baca, which was followed by a slim win against Juárez with Rodríguez on the score sheet again.

In the Apertura 2018 tournament they beat Puebla 3-0 in Week 1 at the Azteca with Andrés Rentería, Milton Caraglio and Elías Hernández finding the target, then a 1-0 win over Chivas away with Martin Cauteruccio providing the decider.

Going further back to the Clausura 2015 tournament when they beat Pachuca 0-1 at the Hidalgo stadium (João Rojas) on the opening day, and Santos by the same score in a duel at the Azteca - Alemao getting the winner.