Mexico

J16 Recap: Two Spots Left, Who Will It Be?

One more date remains in the Mexican leagues regular season. 6 teams are ready to make battle and two more spots remain. Those two spots will be battled out in the upcoming Jornada but the picture already points to the two teams who will take it.

Nov 9, 2009 12:20:01 PM

Javier Alejandro Acosta- Monterrey vs Puebla (Mexsport)

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Javier Alejandro Acosta- Monterrey vs Puebla (Mexsport)

San Luis knows that they will only depend on themselves to make it into the Liguilla. The gladiators will play their last game of the regular season at the Corregidora. San Luis will face group rivals Queretaro who have been eliminated. The fact that Gallos Blancos are eliminated doesn’t mean they won’t put up a fight. Queretaro will try everything they can to get a victory on the last game of the season in front of their home fans.

The ticket for Chivas looks complicated but anything could happen. If Chivas want to make it through they would need one of the next scenarios to take place: 1. they would need to win against Cruz Azul and hope that San Luis loses. 2. If San Luis ties against Queretaro then Chivas would need to score at least six on Cruz Azul in order to get in. Scenario number one looks like a better possibility but again anything could happen.

Now onto the other spot which is awarded in this case to the 2nd best team (not including the 2 spots from each group) of the league. The teams that will be competing for this spot are Puebla and Pachuca. Yet another match up between group rivals will prove to be interesting entering into the last Jornada.

All Puebla needs to do is get a tie or a win in order to advance. They will not be facing the easiest team in the league. Puebla will need to go up against Toluca who was the first team to qualify. One would think that Toluca will go easy and try to conserve energy but Los Diablos have done the opposite to close out the season. They dismantled Pachuca 3-0 and will be looking for that first spot so that they can face the weakest team in the Liguilla.

Pachuca will face off against Tigres who will be coming off a four goal thrashing to Atlante. But even if Pachuca did win it would not be enough to knock out the frontrunner, Puebla. In order for Pachuca to go through they would need Puebla to lose by at least one goal and then score 6 themselves. No matter what they need Puebla to lose and they need to surpass that 7 goal differential.

Four Galore

Four was the key number this weekend. Four different teams scored four goals in the same night. Cruz Azul, Tigres, San Luis, and Chivas all netted four times against their opponents.

Cruz Azul sealed their fate with the four goals pounding that they produced against Puebla. Emanuel villa scored 2 times to bring his total to 16, which is coincidentally the square root of 4.

Tigres also won with a comfortable 4 goal win. Of course things would have been different if Atlante wouldn’t have ended up with nine men and if their coach would have been on the field. Things would have also been better for Tigres if Itamar Batista wouldn’t have missed a penalty.

Santos was my pick against San Luis but strange things do happen. San Luis pulled off the upset and positioned themselves well to earn a ticket to the Liguilla. Prior to the game San Luis had only seen 4 victories and they were all at home.

Chivas also scored four in the Clasico Tapatio. It seems that every time Chivas changes coaches they start off on a high note but then start to slide. Maybe they should just keep switching coaches every two games. Guadalajara had also only won four games prior to the encounter.

All the losing teams summed up a total of 4 goals on Saturday. There were also 4 teams that made it into the Liguilla over the weekend. Is it a coincidence maybe a conspiracy? No it’s just good football.

Who Are Jaguares?

Jaguares always seems to find itself in the middle of the pack. Year after year the Liguilla comes and Jaguares just can’t make it. They are a very confusing team.

You would think that as a team a home win should be a priority. Not only are your fans expecting to see a win but you want to make your home turf a feared one for opponents. Jaguares are the exception to that.

This season Jaguares managed to become the best at something. Something that every team would love to have but that is hard to get. Jaguares managed the best away record of any team in the Mexican league. Out of 9 away games Jaguares had a 5-2-2 record which is great. With such a record Jaguares should be in the Liguilla. Its not so easy though.

If there were a word or two words actually to describe Jaguares it would have to be yin and yang.

Why so?

Jaguares might have the best away record but they boast the worse home record as well. Jaguares have not won a single game at home this season. Its hard to believe that the team who has best away record could also have the worst home record.

It should be easier to win at home right? It is your home crowd your own turf it’s a place that you know real well. Every other team seems to do a decent job at home (except Indios).

Why can’t Jaguares do it? Are the people in Chiapas that hostile that even the home team fears them. If so I got to make a note never to vacation there.

Seriously though if Jaguares did the same kind of job they did on the road at home they would be one of the top teams if not the top team in the league. They know what they need to fix for next season just get over the home losses and they will be good to go.

Liguilla As It Stands

1. *Morelia
8. San Luis

2. *Toluca
7. Puebla

3. *Cruz Azul
6. *Santos

4. *America
5. *Monterrey

* Qualified teams

Quote Of The Week

“It’s something that had not happened before, they just trampled over us. I don’t know what happened but I do know that we were pathetic and did not play for the seal. It’s a good thing that this happened in the 16th date. We have the glass half empty and half full. Its hard to have this kind of defeat in the early dates but I hope it wont repeat against Toluca,” said Jose Luis Sanchez Sola after Puebla’s 4-0 loss.

-Did Aliens take over “El Chelis’” body because this is something he is not used to saying. Usually after a loss like this the speech would have had more asterisks in it than anything else. Yet again he does not want to go off on his team with one more game to go and the Liguilla on the line.

Puebla should have sealed it against Cruz Azul instead they are letting things drag out further than what they have to. Drama is in El Chelis, he loves the attention he loves being in front of the camera and along the line it will hurt him more than just getting a fine here and there. But as long as he keeps us entertained with his antics he can go ahead and do what ever he likes.

Player of the week: Alfredo Moreno

Alfredo Moreno was the most important man on the pitch for San Luis. Moreno was active on almost every play and of course scored a hat trick to help pull of a shocker over Santos. San Luis controls their destiny right now and another win like this could justify why they deserve to be in the Liguilla.

Game of the week: San Luis vs. Santos

Most ever game on Saturday was a high scoring affair but this one topped them all. The stage was set between David and Goliath. San Luis was the underdog but a ticket to Liguilla was hanging in the balance. The game showed great technique from both sides which was only to be capped off by even greater goals. San Luis got it done and more is left to go.

Team of the week: Chivas

Despite all the hardships that the Guadalajara players have gone through in the past few weeks they still showed up to play against Atlas in the Clasico Tapatio. Chivas knew the season was on the line and they continued forward with a decisive win. The players showed great character by putting the team on their backs. This one was clearly for the fans and not for Vergara.

Sylvestre Adame covers Mexican football for Goal.com.

For more coverage of the Mexican Primera Division, visit Goal.com's Mexico section.

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