cruzazulear

A very recent, distinctly Mexican slang coinage: to blow a seemingly certain win at the last moment, the way the football club Cruz Azul became notorious for doing in league finals. The Real Academia Española added it to its Observatorio de Palabras in 2020, though it hasn't entered the dictionary proper.

• Iban ganando 3-0 y terminaron cruzazuleando el partido. — They were winning 3-0 and ended up blowing it at the last minute.
• No vayas a cruzazulear esta entrevista, ya casi la tienes. — Don't blow this interview at the last second, you've basically got it.
• El equipo cruzazuleó otra vez en la final. — The team choked again in the final, just like Cruz Azul.

It's informal sports/internet slang tied specifically to blowing a near-certain victory, not a general synonym for "losing" or "failing" — using it for an ordinary defeat where the team was never really ahead misses the point of the word.

• expression Cruzazulear — Coined after Cruz Azul's infamous collapse against Club América in the 2016 Apertura final (leading 3-0 before losing 4-3); the RAE's Observatorio de Palabras added the term in October 2020, per its own site and Mexican-press coverage.