Liga MX holders León, Chivas take playoff stage

Liga MX Wildcard Weekend continues tonight with an attractive twin-bill featuring both the reigning champs and “the most popular team in Mexico.”

No. 6 seed León puts its crown on the line when the 11th-seeded Diablos Rojos come calling, while soccer fans across North America will tune in to watch the Chivas Rayadas de Guadalajara, seeded No. 9, paying a visit to No. 8 Pachuca in the nightcap.

Last night, Atlas stunned the favored Tigres 1-0 to bring the “Tuca” Era to an unceremonious end, while a fine-tuned Santos Laguna 11 roughed up the visiting Gallos Blancos 5-0.

With half the wildcard round completed, only one quarterfinal series has been confirmed – No. 4 Monterrey vs No. 5 Santos. The other three pairings must await the outcome of Sunday’s games.

Liga MX champs open title defense against Toluca

Despite an inconsistent season, Ignacio Ambriz and the Esmeraldas consider themselves genuine title contenders. To hoist the trophy once again, “La Fiera” must overcome the loss of skipper Luis Montes (suspension) and the extremely versatile Fernando Navarro (knee).

Due to injury issues, Ambriz has been forced to mix-and-match his offensive pieces throughout the season, but it is the club’s defensive frailties that are more worrisome.

Last season’s champions boasted a sturdy defense, allowing the fewest goals (14). This season’s version – with basically the same cast of characters – conceded 23 goals and developed the annoying habit of conceding late. Exhibit A: losing at the death twice in a row (Matchdays 9-10, at home to Puebla then at América).

Their opponent, Toluca, boasts the top scorer in Liga MX (Alexis Canelo – 11 goals) and the league assist leader (Rubens Sambueza – 6 assists).

The mercurial Sambueza directs the dangerous Diablos Rojos offense (tied for most goals – 26), primarily by probing down the flanks, looking to pick out Canelo or Michael Estrada in the box. León defenders can’t afford to make mistakes against the opportunistic “Choriceros.”

When these two teams met back on Matchday 13 (a 2-1 home win for León), the Esmeraldas controlled the Toluca attack by maintaining possession (64%). That will be difficult to duplicate without Montes yo-yoing possession around the middle of the pitch. The likely lack of advantage in possession will put further pressure on William Tesillo and Stiven Barreiro to be mistake free in front of keeper Rodolfo Cota.

“La Fiera” will have to hope that Jean Meneses, Yairo Moreno, Víctor Dávila and/or Joel Campbell can break down the rugged Toluca back line and test Luis Garciá, in just his second season as first-choice keeper.

Wounded Chivas limp into Estadio Hidalgo

After a heroic run to the Liga MX semifinals last season (where they lost to eventual champs León), the Chivas were expected to make great strides in the Guardianes 2021, a Top 4 seed announced as a primary objective.

Well, that didn’t happen. “El Rebaño Sagrado” did not win back-to-back games until Matchday 15 when the “most popular team in Mexico” found itself looking up at the wildcard standings.

Coach Víctor Manuel Vucetich coaxed a 3-1-0 finish from his beleaguered Chivas squad, claiming a playoff spot on the final weekend of the season, but that simply isn’t enough for the team to shake off the “underperformers” label.

The host Tuzos dug themselves a deep hole (starting 0-4-5) before racing to the finish line on a 6-1-1 run. Patience was the watchword as coach Paulo Pezzolano tinkered with his line-up while allowing youngsters such as Erick Sánchez and Roberto de la Rosa to gain some confidence.

It paid off with a No. 8 seed and a home game in the Liga MX wildcard round.

The Chivas have announced that midfielder Jesús Angulo will miss the match (thigh) and struggling striker J.J. Macías is a game-time decision (left knee). These developments limit Vucetich’s options in attack but defense has been the team’s hallmark since the calendar flipped to April (3 goals allowed in six games).

Scoring should be at a premium since Pachuca also displayed a stingy defense, earning four clean sheets in the final eight games of the Liga MX season.

On the other side of the ball, the Tuzos have learned to play offense by committee. Felipe Pardo, Ismael Sosa, Roberto Nurse and Romario Ibarra have shared time with de la Rosa in attack. Luis Chávez, Francisco Figueroa and wingback Erick Aguirre also figure to spend time in the Chivas’ defensive third.

For Guadalajara, Alexis Vega, Isaac Brizuela and Uriel Antuna will be asked to carry the burden of getting the ball past Oscar Ustari who enjoyed another sterling season between the pipes for Pachuca.

At the other end of the pitch, José Luis Rodríguez has grown in confidence since winning the starting job from Raúl Gudiño after the 3-0 spanking the Chivas received from América on Matchday 11.

These teams met at Pachuca’s Estadio Hidalgo back on Matchday 7 with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.