I love soccer. I can’t get enough of it. So this is always a bittersweet time of year. Domestic leagues are coming to an end. Cup competitions are finishing up. In fact, many of Europe’s top leagues had been settled for the past few weeks and lacked final-day drama. So in order to get my fix of intense, competitive league football, I turned my attention to Mexico and the Liga MX Liguilla playoffs.
And I fell in love.
It had been over 10 years since Chivas last captured a Liga MX title, but the final 20 minutes of the 2017 Liga MX Clausura Final must’ve seemed an even longer period for supporters in Guadalajara.
Much like the first leg, Chivas built a 2-0 lead behind goals from Alan Pulido and Jose Vazquez only to surrender a late goal to Ismael Sosa in the 87th. With the likes of Andre-Pierre Gignac, Jurgen Damm, Javier Aquino and Jesus Duenas desperately searching for a Tigres equalizer, long-suffering fans of Mexico’s most popular team were made to sweat over the match’s final minutes.
Chivas were on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead back to Estadio Chivas for the second leg of the 2017 Liga MX Clausura Final, but Andre-Pierre Gignac scored two remarkable goals, in the 85th and 88th minutes, to level the tie for Tigres.
For Chivas, the first 45 minutes in Estadio Universitario really couldn’t have gone any better. For Tigres and goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman, it was a disaster.
The opening 20 minutes were no indicator of what was later to come as Tigres saw Gignac, Jesus Duenas, Lucas Zelarayan and Ismael Sosa all fire shots at Rodolfo Cota in the Chivas goal.
After years of internal turmoil and flirtation with relegation to Ascenso MX, Guadalajara are on the verge of regaining their status as one of the top clubs in Mexico with a two-legged Liga MX final against Tigres this week. This will be the first league final for Chivas in just over 10 years.
Tigres, the 2016 Liga MX Apertura champions, are now on the verge of the 2017 Clausura Final after defeating top-seeded Tijuana 2-0 in the first leg of their Liguilla semifinal. Lucas Zelarayan opened the scoring with a sumptuous goal in the 42nd minute, and a visibly shaken Tijuana side gave up a second only three minutes later to Javier Aquino.
Fans of MLS will remember Camilo Sanvezzo from his time with the Vancouver Whitecaps, during which he did this:
That goal was nominated for the Puskas Award, but Sanvezzo, now with Queretaro in Liga MX, has quite possibly outdone himself.
You don't see many 5'8" goalkeepers in soccer. You don't see many 44-year-olds anywhere but the tactical area. You definitely don't see 5'8", 44-year-old goalkeepers doing things like this:
Cruz Azul have not been very good this season, sitting 15th in the Liga MX table. As such, a sorceress named "Zulema" has decided to help them out.
From ESPNFC:
La Maquina, currently 15th in the Liga MX table with three match dates remaining in the 2017 Clausura, received a visit from La Bruja Zulema, a sorceress in leather pants hoping to "cleanse" the club of its decades-long curse.
Last night Chivas defeated Monarcas de Morelia in a penalty shootout in the Copa MX final.
Highlights of the shootout are below. Come for the penalty shootout, stay for the goalkeeper shenanigans from Miguel Jimenez and Sebastian Sosa. Sosa in particular is hilarious, if mostly ineffective.
Xolos reserve defender Daniel Andres Gomez was arrested last week at the U.S.-Mexico border after border partol agents found almost 48 pounds of methamphetamine in his car.
Gomez, a U.S. citizen, plays for the Xolos reserves in the Mexican third division. The drugs in his car were discovered when a border patrol agent noticed his spare tire wasn't weighted properly. Upon secondary inspection, packages were found in the car that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.