What Does This Mean?
A verb meaning to blow a match or situation you had essentially already won — collapsing at the last moment after victory looked completely certain — that has since spread beyond soccer into general use for any spectacular last-minute self-sabotage.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
"Iban ganando 3-0 y terminaron empatando, la cruzazulearon feo."
LORE & ORIGIN
Named after Mexican soccer club Cruz Azul's recurring habit of losing games it appeared to have already won, with early scattered uses from 2013 and a genuine viral explosion in late 2016 after Cruz Azul surrendered a 3-0 lead against rival America in the final minutes. The Real Academia Espanola added it to its Word Observatory (Observatorio de Palabras) in 2020, and Mexican outlets have continued tracking follow-up cruzazuleadas as fresh instances keep reinforcing the joke.
EQUIVALENT CONCEPTS IN OTHER LANGUAGES
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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