Olympic qualification over, Liga MX set to return
With Liga MX joining clubs from around the world on a FIFA break, attention in Mexico has been on the national teams (and on the Liga MX Femenil which staged a Super Clásico of its own on Saturday night with the Lady Chivas exacting revenge for the men’s result and spanking the Lady Aguilas 4-2).
El Tri is in Europe in the middle of two friendly dates, losing 1-0 to Wales in Cardiff earlier Saturday and set to take on Costa Rica in Austria Tuesday. (Oh, and by the way, coach Leonardo Cuéllar resigned immediately after América lost the Super Clásico Femenil).
Meanwhile, Guadalajara is hosting the Concacaf Olympic Men’s Soccer qualifying tournament where the Mini Tri clinched a spot in Tokyo with a 2-0 win over Canada in Sunday’s second semifinal. In the first semi, Honduras stunned Team USA and eliminated the North Americans who have not qualified for an Olympics Games since 2008.
Liga MX veterans chasing Gold
Mexico will play Honduras in the Olympic Qualifier Final on Tuesday night but it is mostly an afterthought since both teams have their ticket to Tokyo ensured. The Mini Tri can now dream of repeating their 2012 Olympic glory when the boys came home with gold medals after beating Brazil in the Final.
The outcome in Guadalajara is redemption of sorts for coach Jaime Lozano who was named U-23 coach in December 2018, a full year after he’d been fired from his one and only Liga MX managerial post (Lozano had gone 10-10-15 with Querétaro in 2017).
The chatter before the tournament was one of concern as six of the players on Mexico’s roster are Chivas and they arrived at training camp coming off an embarrassing loss to América in the Liga MX Super Clásico. Pundits worried that the negativity from the “Rebaño Sagrado” would infect the rest of the team.
After the march to the finals with a perfect 4-0-0 record (10 goals for, 1 goal against), the narrative has flipped. Winger Uriel Antuna and forward Alexis Vega played starring roles while Jesús Angulo and Alejandro Mayorga made significant contributions, and J.J. Macías and Gilberto Sepúlveda also saw action. The thinking is perhaps the six Goats return to Guadalajara and make an inspirational run into the playoffs.
On the other hand, the play of Vega and Antuna had Chivas fans criticizing their coach, Víctor Manuel Vucetich, for not getting the same production out of his men in Liga MX. But it must be pointed out that playing against U-23 teams from the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Canada is not the same as facing América, Monterrey, León and the Tigres. So it will be worth watching if the Chivas gain any momentum when league play resumes this week.