Liga MX: Matchday 2 goes virtually unnoticed. El Tri, ViX to blame
Liga MX Matchday 2 took place over the weekend, but you might not have known it.
El Tri’s quarterfinal win over Costa Rica stole the spotlight from a Saturday’s triple-header and three games were hidden from most fans after getting moved from TV to Televisa’s streaming platform ViX. Not that futbol fans in Mexico missed anything, to be honest.
Liga MX followers might want to know that Guadalajara sits alone atop the table with a perfect 2-0-0 record, while 10 of the other 17 teams remain winless.
Four teams lead the chasers with 4 points: Toluca, UNAM, Monterrey and FC Juárez, the early front-runner for Surprise Team of the AP23.
Quick takeaways from Matchday 2
The Chivas lead Liga MX with 5 goals scored, two coming from the boots of 17-year-old debutante Yael Padilla.
The kid Goat opened the scoring for “El Rebaño Sagrado” in the club’s 3-1 win over Atlético de San Luis.
Padilla is tied for the league lead with those 2 goals. Also ripping the nets twice thus far: Harold Preciado (Santos Laguna); Brayan Angulo (Puebla); and Carlos González (Tijuana).
At the other end of the table sits Cruz Azul, the only team with two losses. The Cementeros are also the lone Liga MX team without a goal in its account.
“Tuca” Ferretti watched his goalie, Sebastián Jurado, make a juvenile mistake in minute 39, leaving “La Máquina Azul” to play a man down for 50 minutes.
Through seven games thus far (Pachuca visit León Monday night and the Querétaro-Atlas match was postponed due to an unplayable pitch), 16 goals have been scored in Matchday 2. This after 21 goals (from nine games) were produced on Opening Weekend.
Despite the absence of offensive fireworks (only two games have seen both teams find the net at least twice: Tijuana 2, Pumas 3 on M1; Puebla 2, Santos Laguna 3 on M2), there have only been two scoreless draws (Necaxa at Toluca on M1; Mazatlán FC at UNAM on M2).
Running the Liga MX gauntlet
When the Apertura 2023 schedule came out, FC Juárez fans no doubt slumped in disbelief.
The calendar had the Bravos opening the season at Estadio Azteca against perennial title hopeful América, then reigning Liga MX champs Tigres were to pay a visit.
Matchdays 3 and 4 had the Border Braves playing a road game at Toluca’s “Inferno” before welcoming Guadalajara to Estadio Olímpico Benito Juárez. That’s the last two losing finalists.
Dreams of a return to the playoffs were burst before the first ball was kicked. Or were they?
Diego Mejía’s men opened the season with a stunning come-from-behind victory over América (scoring twice in the final 10 minutes to win 2-1) then held the champs to a 1-1 tie.
Next. Mexico's U-23 earns gold at Central America/Caribbean Games. dark
If the Bravos can come out the other side of Matchday 4 with 6 points (they’d need to draw both), they might feel like the rest of the schedule is a piece of cake.