Ambriz, Toluca short-circuit hapless Rayos de Necaxa

Necaxa legend Ignacio Ambriz continues to haunt his former team, beating the Rayos for the eighth consecutive time Friday night. And Toluca’s 1-0 win was its first in Aguascalientes in 14 years.

Ambriz – a former Necaxa captain who won back-to-back league titles with the team in the 1990s – is now 8-0-0 against the Rayos since they unceremoniously fired him a month after he led the team to a Copa MX title in 2018.

Four months later, “Nacho” took the León job and went 7-0 against Necaxa (17-5 goal differential) while transforming the Esmeraldas into a perennial title contender. He led León to the Clausura 2019 finals and a year later “La Fiera” was Liga MX champion.

Ambriz spent part of last season coaching in Spain before accepting the Toluca job in December.

Necaxa home nightmares continue

Toluca worked hard the first 10 minutes of Friday night’s match in Estadio Victoria and took an early lead when Camilo Sanvezzo was given time in space inside the box after corralling a corner kick on the back side.

The Diablos then sat back and waited for Necaxa to self-destruct. And that the Rayos did.

Despite 61% possession, Necaxa demonstrated a thorough lack of ideas up front, managing only a single shot on goal and that came in minute 90+2.

They did, however, show an aptitude for dribbling into trouble and spraying wayward passes. In one sequence, the Rayos had six straight touches (possession?) in which they chased down the ball and knocked it free, chased it down and knocked it free, etc.

The Rayos were guilty of lax trapping (often resulting in turnovers), frequent ball-watching (on both offense and defense) and vacuous set pieces. On one occasion, “Los Electricistas” had a free kick out wide in their offensive third. The first pass went backward (not into the box), the second pass was nearly lost out of bounds near midfield and the third pass went back to their goaltender. Simply atrocious.

Toluca did have a hand in the desultory display, cutting off passing lanes and pressing outward effectively.

The lackluster performance elicited boos from the home crowd, and deservedly so as the Rayos fell to 0-0-4 at Estadio Victoria while being outscored 9-1.

The win temporarily lifts Toluca into 6th place with 13 points (and the Diablos have a game in hand), while Necaxa slipped one spot into 14th.

FC Juárez 0, León 1

Last season’s losing finalist did just enough to pick up a road win, and with the 3 points the Esmeraldas moved into 4th place.

“La Fiera” enjoyed 61% possession and seemed to prowling around the Bravos’ box much of the game, but did not have much to show for it.

In our preview, I cited León’s imprecise finishing as a concern and the scuffing continued in front of net.

In the second half, Elías Hernández, Federico Martínez and Jean Meneses each found themselves 1-on-1 with the goalie only to come up wanting. Hernández shanked his chance short-side, Meneses sprayed wide past the far post and Martínez was stoned by ’keeper Hugo González.

León skipper Luis Montes did deliver two majestic assists, but I suppose you can’t call them assists since the ball was not sent into the net. Coach Ariel Holan has not found a partner for leading scorer Víctor Dávila who was kept under wraps by the hosts.

Hernández did claim the game-winner, however, scoring in minute 55. “The Patrolman” gathered in a long cross from Martínez in the left side of the box, stepped inside a defender onto his right foot and rifled a low shot across the face of goal and inside the far post.

The 1-0 home loss sinks FC Juárez deeper into the “relegation” basement though they remain in 12th place. Keep in mind, however, that a team that finishes last in the “Relegation Standings” is ineligible for the playoffs no matter where they sit in the table.