Top Stories

Mexican Weekend Rewind: Tigres rolls, Club America tops Tijuana, and more

By IVES GALARCEP

Club America handed defending champion Club Tijuana their first loss of the Clausura season on Saturday to leapfrog the Xolos and stay within striking distance of unbeaten league leaders UANL Tigres.

An Osvaldo Martinez penalty and Paul Aguilar second-half strike gave Club America a 2-0 lead on the home team, and while a Pablo Aguilar strike gave Tijuana some hope late in the second half, Las Aguilas held on for the victory.

Tigres moved into sole possession of first place in the Mexican League after posting a 4-1 thrashing of Toluca. A Juninho goal in the first half, coupled with a second-half Lucas Lobos penalty gave Tigres the lead on the road, but Toluca’s Edgar Duenas made things interesting with a 78th-minute strike. Tigres closed the show with a pair of stoppage-time goals to turn the match into a rout.

Santos Laguna looked like a team in dire need of star striker Oribe Peralta as they struggled in a rare home loss on Sunday, falling 1-0 to Pachuca. Hector Herrera provided the winning tally for the Tuzos, while Santos failed to score without Peralta, who was sidelined with a nasal fracture suffered during Mexico’s World Cup qualifying tie vs. Jamaica.

Here is a rundown of this weekend’s action in Mexico.

WEEKEND MEXICAN LEAGUE SCOREBOARD

SUNDAY

Toluca 1, UANL Tigres 4

Santos Laguna o, Pachuca 1

SATURDAY

Cruz Azul 1, UNAM Pumas 1

Queretaro 1, Chiapas 1

Monterrey 0, Chivas Guadalajara 1

Club Tijuana 1, Club America 2

Atlas 2, Atlante 1

San Luis 1,  Puebla 3

FRIDAY

Morelia 1, Leon 0

——————

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

DaMarcus Beasley, Puebla. No, not because he’s American, but because he came off the bench and broke a tie with a pair of second half goals. Hector Herrera deserves an honorable mention nod as well.

NEXT WEEK’S GAME OF THE WEEK

UANL Tigres vs. Santos Laguna. The league leaders put their unbeaten record on the line against a Santos side that will be looking to rebound from a rare road loss.

Pachuca vs. Cruz Azul. After a win in Torreon vs. Santos, Pachuca will look to hold serve at home against an unbeaten Cruz Azul side that has just two wins in six matches.

—————

What do you think of this weekend’s results in Mexico? See Tigres holding on to the top spot? Think Club Tijuana will turn around their recent slump? Think Santos Laguna can rebound without Peralta?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. My family and I attended the Atlante / Chiapas game in Cancun a couple of weeks ago. Total blast – cheered for the home team and even wore our RSL gear. Fans were great. Two goals by Atlante in less than a minute in stoppage to win 4-3 after being up two goals and men in the second half didn’t hurt either. Great league – I wished they were all playing in MLS. Refs were much much higher quality than MLS, they kept the game under control. Towards the end of the game there was a collision at the far end of the field resulting in a broken leg (unfortunately) – we all heard it break even where we were at. The player rolled himself just off the field and the game went on. The ambulance drove up, the player was stabilized and away they went. The whole thing took place about a foot off the end line maybe 10 feet from the GK. Amazing. The whole game was just fun even though both these clubs are in the lower half of the standings. Reminded me of when RSL played Cruz Azul in CONCACAF a couple of years ago. Would love to see more on this league.

    Reply
  2. Seeing how well Tigres is playing, would make for an intriguing match up against the Gals in the champions league. Hopefully it happens.

    Reply
  3. The Tijuana v America match was unreal. For the Aguilas to go to Tijuana and win against one of the best teams with only 9 men took some heart. I thought it was over for CA after Mosquera was ejected. It was a nail-biter until the end.

    On another note, Castillo is an impressive player. I’d recommend anybody to pay attention to his style of play, if they are looking for an attack-minded fullback.

    Reply
    • I have liked Castillo since his first game under Klinsmann against Mexico August 2011. I want to see Fabian sit as sub against Costa Rica and Edgar start

      Reply
  4. Toluca were horrible. Their backline got pulled apart constantly. But, Tigres were impressive. They got even better when they took Lobos out. I do hope Xolos turn it around soon.

    Reply
  5. I would definately like to see more of Corona and would like to see Castillo given a shot at LM since Johnson has the LB position solidified.

    Reply
    • Speaking as a big fan of Fabian Johnson, I have to admit that he has not been getting the job done in recent USMNT games. His club form has not been so good in recent months. That’s mainly why I want to see Castillo given a shot. I think Castillo maybe could play left wing, but I would really rather see Klinsmann bring a true winger who plays it at club, maybe Beasley and, of course, if it happens, Shea or Donovan.

      Reply
  6. Is this inaugural Mexican Weekend Rewind? Good idea…

    I would love to see a USMNT starting line-up against Costa Rica that includes most if not all of the following: Castillo, Torres, Corona, Herc Gomez and Beez and then repeated against Mexico in Estadio Azteca, where all of them have played during Liga MX games. And, of course, we just gotta have Timothy Chandler starting at right back in those games after his outstanding performance against Honduras. Cannot wait to see Timmy C. humiliate those Costa Rican and Mexican players like he did the Hondurans.

    Reply
    • Yes it is. Been wanting to have one for some time, but hadn’t been able to find someone to do it. Figure I can take the lead and see where it goes from there.

      Reply
      • Can’t find anyone to do it? I thought the boss would only have to snap his fingers and the writers would come running to be at his command…

        I bet demand for Liga MX news would be fairly strong. I noticed on the SBI boards this weekend an unusually high amount of Liga MX activity. Now, if we USMNT fans can only get Klinsi to follow-through on his pledge 18 months ago to incorporate more of the latino style into the team. Dennis has an excellent comment on the Beasley news item that ran yesterday urging Klinsmann to utualize more Liga MX players.

        And I truly believe this next two games would be the perfect time for this, with the game in Mexico City looming. Klinsmann definitely needs to shake things up a bit after the Honduras disaster.

      • SBI, I love it, thanks for LigaMX report.

        I bet it would be a ton of work, but a report similar to what you did before the world cup reviewing the Slovenians and Algerians before those games, would be really cool maybe the week before a hex opponent. Maybe review the likely starting XI, domestic league, international form, etc.. Its just interesting how little Americans know about our neighbors, even someone like me who seeks out that info is still behind the times.

      • Ives,

        I share the opinion of biff and beto above, would love to see this on a weekly basis. Probably a bit unrealistic but would love to see your opinion on how you think the US eligible players did in each game.

Leave a Comment