The more I immerse myself into Mexican women’s soccer, the happier I get knowing it’s increasing in its visibility. As has been said about the men’s side for years — there is always soccer happening. With the dismissal of Olympic qualifiers (still recovering), the U20 Women’s Championship is upon us and soon enough the Cyprus Cup will begin but above all else we are graced with the presence of year-round Liga MX Femenil.
1. This was the lowest scoring jornada. What struck me the most by the end of the weekend given that Liga MX Femenil belongs to Mondays was the fact that only two goals had been scored in the first four games. A total of 15 goals were scored throughout the entire duration of Week 9. Alongside the increase in excitement, this season has also been drenched with high-scoring matches. I went ahead and counted all the goals from each Jornada just to make sure I wasn’t making a mountain out of a molehill.
Week 1: 26 goals scored
Week 2: 24 goals scored
Week 3: 29 goals scored
Week 4: 22 goals scored
Week 5: 17 goals scored
Week 6: 30 goals scored
Week 7: 30 goals scored
Week 8: 31 goals scored
For the past eight weeks, Liga MX Femenil has been averaging 26 goals every jornada. There were some strong results from Xolos, Leon and Tigres this week, but the goals were still scarce. Maybe this is some sort of defensive strategy from the teams going into the second half of the season. Or maybe it was an anomaly. We’ll see in Jornada 10.
2. Renae Cuellar is getting her groove back. America was missing some key players with Ximena Rios and Jennifer Munoz both away at national team duty for their respective age groups but even then, it didn’t seem like anything was going to stop Renae Cuellar during Monday’s match at Estadio Caliente. Just seven minutes into the match, Cuellar reacted quickly to America’s sloppy clearance and with very limited space, got a good volley shot on the ball that went just over the keeper’s head. Less than ten minutes later, Veronica Perez would send in a cross from the corner that Cuellar would win in the air to get her second and unlock her brace for the night. Xolos will have to fight hard the next couple of weeks given the current 9th place position in the standings but if Cuellar can keep up the goalscoring that we learned to admire last season (she currently sits in 7th in the Golden Boot race), they’ll have a fighting chance to make the playoffs once again.
3. Extranjeros are also making their case. Mexican-Americans have been heavily discussed by several followers (myself included) when it comes to how beneficial it is to have them in the league. But Mexican players coming from Europe has been equally fun to watch this season and for this big takeaway I’m going to highlight Tigres Femenil forward Stephany Mayor. After spending over three years in Iceland alongside partner and teammate Bianca Sierra, the most made their way to Mexico to do what they can to improve the league. And in the case of Mayor, she is taking the league by storm. With a brace against Pachuca, an unbelievable hat trick performance against Atletico San Luis and a goal against Morelia, Stephany Mayor currently sits at the top of the Golden Boot races with six goals in just three games, beating out fan favorites Fabiola Ibarra, Desiree Monsivais, and Viridiana Salazar. Tigres is Tigres and it’s obvious Mayor is surrounded by extremely talented players. But finishing one’s opportunities is an ongoing individual struggle and by averaging one goal every 45 minutes, Mayor is more than capable of winning each of those battles.
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