Apertura 2021 blasts off with Liga MX Champions Cup

The Apertura 2021 season kicks off Sunday with the Champions Cup (Campeón de Campeones) pitting the past two Liga MX champs against each other.

The inaugural match of the new season should be a good one as León – winner over UNAM in the Guardianes 2020 final – against current holders Cruz Azul. The game will be played at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Both teams will be a bit short-handed, with starters for each team unavailable for Sunday’s game as well as the opening weeks of the Liga MX season.

The Esmeraldas are without goalie Rodolfo Cota and defender Osvaldo Rodríguez, both of whom are members of Mexico’s Gold Cup team, while Cementeros stars Luis Romo and Roberto Alvarado are in Tokyo with El Tri Olímpico and Orbelín Pineda is at the Gold Cup.

Liga MX works around U.S. Covid restrictions

Another concern for the Liga MX squads was apparently resolved with last-minute negotiations. U.S. health authorities currently have restrictions in place for people who have traveled to Brazil where the coronavirus is running rampant.

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Visitors arriving from that South American nation are required to quarantine, a stipulation that would have prevented six players (four for León and two for Cruz Azul) from participating in the Liga MX Champions Cup.

Frantic mediation on the part of team and league officials resolved the issue positively, according to Record columnist David Medrano. The six players – forwards Santiago Ormeño, Angel Mena and Jean Meneses, plus defender William Tesillo for León, and midfielder Yoshimar Yotún and striker Jonathan Rodríguez for Cruz Azul – have been permitted to arrive to California after the Liga MX teams promised that all personnel would remain within a so-called “sanitary bubble,” avoiding contact with people outside the teams’ traveling parties.

Debut for Esmeraldas new coach

The Ariel Holan era officially gets under way against Cruz Azul. The Argentine manager took over for Ignacio Ambriz who declined León’s contract offer and moved to Spain where he now coaches second-division side Huesca.

Holan signed a contract to direct “La Fiera” on May 11 and guided the Esmeraldas to a 2-2-0 record during the preseason.

León opened its summer exhibition schedule with two games against Liga de Expansión MX teams (a 3-1 win over Leones Negros followed by a 3-1 loss to Atletico Morelia), before splitting a pair of games against Liga MX squads (a 3-0 loss to Necaxa, a 2-0 victory over Atlético de San Luis).

Cruz Azul comes into the Liga MX Champions Cup with three preseason games under its belt. The Cementeros tied FC Juárez 1-1, then defeated Pachuca 2-1 and closed its exhibition schedule with a 1-0 win over Austin Bold FC, a team from the USL Championship league.