Playing for 90
Fansided

FIFA break heightens drama of Liga MX stretch run

By Thomas Buckley

Team Mexico plays three games in seven days so some players will surely face fatigue issues upon returning to their respective Liga MX clubs. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
Team Mexico plays three games in seven days so some players will surely face fatigue issues upon returning to their respective Liga MX clubs. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) /
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Liga MX Oct FIFA break
Luis Romo (left) and Orbelín Pineda are key to Cruz Azul’s Liga MX title defense and both are currently in El Tri’s training camp. (Photo by JULIO CESAR AGUILAR/AFP via Getty Images) /

Liga MX champs could see dreams of repeat fade

The Cementeros entered the Apertura 2021 with high hopes of defending their crown but were impacted by the crowded summer calendar that left coach Juan Reynoso scrambling to field a team when the Liga MX season started back in July.

Through the first three matchdays, Cruz Azul was missing as many as 11 players (and no fewer than eight) as the Olympics and the Concacaf Gold Cup overlapped with the start of the Apertura 2021. Coach Reynoso was forced to cobble together a line-up and “La Máquina” got off to a 1-1-1 start.

Now in 6th place with 17 points, Cruz Azul is running out of time to claim a first-round bye. Such a task is made more difficult by the upcoming schedule, a veritable gauntlet, and the fact that six key players (Luis Romo, Orbelín Pineda, Julio César Domínguez, Juan Escobar, Yoshimar Yotún and Bryan Angulo) will be returning from international duty.

On Oct. 16, the Cementeros host the Tigres (5th place, 18 points), visit 2nd-place Atlas (22 points) on Oct. 19, and return to Guadalajara on Oct. 23 to face the Chivas (11th place, 14 points).

Coach Reynoso will have to turn to his bench again to take on these three rivals, each of which has only two players on international duty. Unlike last season – when “La Máquina” got great production from subs on its way to the Liga MX title – the bottom half of the roster has failed to deliver.

As if that weren’t enough, Cruz Azul faces its biggest test of the season immediately thereafter, on Matchday 16 – the Junior Classic. If the Cementeros struggle during the above three-game stretch, first-place América might be in a position to knock its Mexico City rival out of the playoff race all together.

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