Tijuana and Morelia got off to a wild start in the first match of the Mexican Primera's 2012 Clausura season, as both teams created a scoring chance in the opening 80 seconds, but things settled down eventually as the teams played to a fair 1-1 draw. Morelia was the much better team in the first half, but gave away a penalty just before the stroke of halftime. That gave Xolos some momentum going into the second half, where they never looked like conceding.
Morelia struck first with a 22nd minute goal by Rafael Marquez Lugo. Tijuana got caught out badly by the counter attack, as Morelia got multiple players in behind their defense. Miguel Sabah set up the goal, squaring a ball from the edge of the area to set up Lugo for the finish.
Just before the end of the half, the referee showed Duvier Riascos for diving in the penalty area. It was clear on replay that Adrian Alderete made contact with Riascos, tripping him up and causing him to fall. Apparently, the linesman saw it and corrected the official. Antony Zanjuampa Rojo accepted his mistake and reversed his decision, rescinding the yellow and correctly granting a penalty kick. Jose Sand stepped up and converted, sending the teams into the break tied 1-1.
The second half didn't produce any goals, but a moment of controversy occurred late, once again involving Riascos. On a great run, the Colombian striker played himself through on goal, one-on-one with Federico Vilar. The Morelia keeper rushed out to make a tackle, making contact with Riascos and causing the ball to be cleared away. Vilar never made any contact with the ball, however, and the referee probably should have shown him a red card. Instead, Rojo waived play on, and the match ended 1-1 with 22 players on the pitch.
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