Monterrey secured a 1-1 draw away to Santos Laguna in the second leg of their Liga MX quarterfinal to advance to the semis 6-3 on aggregate. Santos Laguna suffered the dreaded Curse of the 'Superlider' at the first hurdle after entering the Liguilla as the Apertura’s top team.
Monterrey, however, isn’t a very forgiving eight-seed, as demonstrated by their 5-2 first leg victory at Estadio BBVA Bancomer last Thursday.
The 2019 Liga MX Apertura playoffs begin on Wednesday, Nov. 27, with the first legs of the quarterfinals.
There’s a lot of flavor in this liguilla’s sauce, but the tastiest matchup is certainly a meeting between 2019 Clausura champion Tigres (three seed) and 2018 Apertura winner Club América (six seed). It’s André-Pierre Gignac versus Henry Martín and we couldn’t be more excited.
Despite finishing the 2019 Apertura with three straight victories, Chivas Guadalajara missed out on the playoffs again this season, a streak of liguilla absences that dates back to when the club lifted the 2017 Clausura title.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Goats. The club is through to the Round of 16 in the Copa MX, and they ended the Apertura in fine style on Saturday — the 3-1 victory over Veracruz included a brace from Alan Pulido and a goal at the death from Toño Rodriguez. Rodríguez is Guadalajara’s goalkeeper.
Mexico pushed Brazil to the brink in the final of Sunday's 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup, but late goals from Kaio Jorge and Lázaro sent a raucous crowd of over 15,000 into raptures in Brasília. Inspirational captain Eugenio Pizzuto had provided the assist on Bryan Gonzalez’s opener for El Tri in the 66th minute, but Brazil’s ferocious comeback began in the 84th with Kaio’s VAR-assisted penalty and ended — just before the match was headed straight to a shootout — with Lázaro’s stunning winner with only one minute remaining in stoppage time.
The Force was with Monterrey, not Tijuana on Friday night.
Tijuana collaborated with Star Wars for some pretty slick uniforms worn during Friday’s Liga MX match, but it was Monterrey who played like Jedis.
An early red card to Jordan Silva doomed the Xolos as the Rayados cruised to a vital 4-0 win.
But at least the Tijuana Star Wars Jerseys looked great.
Raúl Jiménez was the first to react.
The Wolverhampton striker’s boot had violently struck the head of Kenan Bajric of Slovan Bratislava while attempting a bicycle kick, and Jiménez immediately called for medical staff to come onto the field.
After 10 minutes, Bajric was stretchered off the pitch. Shortly thereafter, Jiménez was apologizing after scoring a critical late winner.
While the U.S. was sent packing after the group stage following its worst-ever showing at a FIFA U-17 World Cup, Mexico is through to the quarterfinals following a 2-0 victory over Japan in Gama, Brazil, on Wednesday. If you were already a little disappointed with U.S. Soccer following the dismal showing, you’ll be pleased to know that Mexico’s success is even further damnation of our bumbling federation.
In September, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) unveiled a plan to stamp out the use of the homophobic “puto” chant. Scared of further punishment from FIFA — from fines to forfeiting World Cup qualifiers — the FMF finally decided to do the right thing.
The fans? Not so much.
UANL defeated Veracruz 3-1 on Friday night in Liga MX. Veracruz vs Tigres 2019 was anything but a normal match.
Veracruz protested unpaid wages — some players having gone five or six months without pay — by refusing to play the opening four minutes, standing still as Tigres players scored two uncontested goals, which proved to be the difference in the match.
Mexico opened play in the Concacaf Nations League with an easy 5-1 road win over Bermuda on Friday night.
Well, it was mostly easy.
Chucky Lozano was the victim of an incidental punch to the face from the referee, an intentional stomp from an opponent and sliced a penalty kick off the post and wide. But the Napoli winger persevered to record a goal and two assists.
Early in the match, Lozano was getting up from a foul when the referee inadvertently smacked the Mexican in the face.