Liga MX

Emmanuel Gigliotti, who definitely should’ve been sent off about 30 minutes earlier, scored a late equalizer for 10-man León to salvage a 1-1 draw against Pumas in the first leg of the Liga MX Guard1anes 2020 final on Thursday night. The even score sets up what should be an incredible second leg on Sunday night in León.

Few leagues in the world entertain as much as Liga MX and Thursday’s first leg was no different.

I’ll be honest, I had little to no intention of watching tonight’s Liga MX semifinal second leg between Cruz Azul and Pumas. La Máquina had won the first leg 4-0, and although Cruz Azul comes with the factory warning of Cruz Azul-ing, I’d like to think I had better things to do on a Sunday night.

I don't. Sources told me Juan Dinenno had pulled one back for Pumas in the fourth minute, so the gin went in the juice and I turned on TUDN.  

Cruz Azul took a giant step toward reaching the Liga MX Apertura finals with a stunning 4-0 victory over Pumas UNAM on Thursday night, scoring three goals in the opening 13 minutes. Pumas are left with a mountain to climb in the second leg on Sunday, not to mention the psychological blow of conceding one of the goals of the season in Mexico to one Rafael Baca.

It was a massive week in U.S. soccer viewership with everyone taking time off for Thanksgiving and hunkering down to watch to incessant onslaught of the Premier League, the start of the MLS Cup playoffs and the business end of the Liga MX Apertura liguilla. 

In terms of English-language broadcasts, the highest-rated event between Nov. 23 and Nov. 29 was last Sunday’s dire 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. An audience of 744,000 tuned in on NBCSN to have their spirits crushed by José Mourinho.

Chivas advanced to the semifinals of the Guardianes playoffs after defeating América 2-1 on Sunday night (3-1 on aggregate). América believed they could overturn the one-goal deficit from the first leg at the Azteca, but Cristian “Chicote” Calderón scored two great goals to turn Henry Martín’s strike into nothing more than consolation.   

The 23-year-old Calderón — who’s been capped four times by Mexico — opened the scoring in the 31st minute with an unstoppable left-footed drive from distance that flew by Guillermo Ochoa and into the corner.   

Tigres has qualified for the quarterfinal round of the Liga MX Guardianes playoffs after defeating Toluca 2-1 on Sunday. Hugo Ayala was sent off in the 71st-minute for Tigres, but André-Pierre Gignac’s pair of quick fire strikes in the 35th and 38th minutes proved enough for the home side. 

Gignac is known as "Mr. Liguilla" for a reason, but the cross on his opening goal from Luis Quiñones deserves a lot of praise.  

The FIFA Club World Cup, originally planned for December, will now be held from Feb. 1 to Feb. 11 in Doha, Qatar, organizers FIFA said on Tuesday.

The tournament brings together the six continental champions from across the world, with European Champions League winners Bayern Munich the first to have qualified. Last season's tournament ended with Liverpool beating Brazilian club Flamengo in the final.

The 2020 Liga MX Apertura regular season (renamed Guardianes to honor healthcare workers) came to a close on Sunday to finalize positions for the reformatted liguilla.

The number of teams that qualify for the playoffs has been raised from eight to 12 due to the shortened season, although the top four teams still qualify directly to the quarterfinals whereas seeds five through 12 must now navigate a single-leg play-in round to make up the last eight.

Sebastián Córdova had two goals and an assist in América’s 3-1 victory over Tigres at Estadio Azteca on Sunday night. With one match remaining in the Guardianes regular season, América has secured a spot in the quarterfinals while Tigres needs to take care of business against Atlas next Saturday to have any chance of avoiding the play-in round.