It was just another Sunday night in Liga MX. Pumas were on their way to victory against a hapless Monarcas de Morelia team that had already conceded two own goals. All UNAM needed to do was see out the game and collect three points. In the 58th minute, midfielder Javier Cortes Granados decided seeing out the game wasn't enough.
He needed to score the goal of 2016 so far in Liga MX. So that's what he did.
Not a bad showing by yours truly last week, as I only missed the Chelsea-Everton match. While many of you will have one eye trained on your NCAA Basketball bracket, the other should be fixed on the football world as this weekend brings its own kind of madness to the pitch. The Manchester Derby along with pivotal matches in Italy, Spain and North America are “can’t miss” viewing. The five best of the weekend are:
1. Manchester City v. Manchester United, Sunday 12:00 p.m. EST, NBC
In case you missed it last week, Liga MX took MLS to school in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. The Mexican clubs (Club America, Queretaro, Santos Laguna, and Tigres) dominated their American opposition. While watching the results unfold, I realized I don’t know much about Mexico’s Liga MX and I needed to learn more.
So after diving into the wild world of Mexican club soccer, I came away with a wonderful, crazy, exciting, and bizarre realization.
Club Tijuana is AWESOME.
Pachuca like Pokemon. A lot.
What could have caused this obsession? Our working theory is "Pachuca" would be a great name for a Pokemon (other soccer clubs with great Pokemon names: Cobresal, Gremio, Melgar, Carmelita and Xelaju) and they just ran with it.
Here are Pachuca's tweets from the second half against Dorados de Sinaloa. Again, these are just from the second half.
I stayed on target with my predictions as I only missed the Madrid Derby pick (what is going on with Real Madrid!!?!!). Not to worry, I will miss them all this week as quality matches dot the globe and the MLS returns. Here are the five can’t miss matches of the weekend, including the critical North London derby:
1. Tottenham Hotspur v. Arsenal, Saturday 7:45 a.m. EST, NBCSN
Los Angeles Galaxy forward Robbie Keane has seen enough over his four years of play in North America to declare MLS on par with Liga MX. A bullish Keane declared that Liga MX was stagnating in the face of MLS growth, a bold claim to make prior to Tuesday’s second leg fixture between the Galaxy and Santos Laguna of Liga MX.
TV Preview: Chivas v Tigres: the Bundesliga is back after a month off although most German sides were busy during the sabbatical. Chicharito did what Chicharito does, scoring goals in Florida of all places and with 19 goals in 22 appearances, the Mexican National player is getting glances from English sides once more.
Chinese political revolutionary Mao Zedong once said “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Obviously he was a man fond of frightening his own people with weapons in order to keep his citizens in line. That’s one way of carrying out your duties as an elected official.
Pachuca unveiled their latest signing Tuesday with a timely, yet bizarre, pop culture reference. Clad in Darth Vader’s getup and stepping to “The Imperial March,” Pachuca’s new arrival, Darth Omar, made his way to the podium along with a Sith Lord, Stormtrooper and an undersized Chewbacca.
With Star Wars fever firmly gripping the planet, who can blame Pachuca for catching the bug? It makes for an oddly captivating viewing experience.
I will set the scene: Tigres are up 3-0 on Pumas after thoroughly dominating the first leg of the 2015 Liga MX final.
The second leg, though, ended up being one of the craziest games we have ever seen, in a final to boot. Pumas needed something damn near a miracle to come back and win, but this is Liga MX, and anything is possible. Lalo Herrera got Pumas on to the comeback trail just before half time.