Going into a doble jornada is always tough. There’s so much to write, so much to digest from the past week. They’re fun to try and keep up with but as a sportswriter, I like my routine. Luckily the week leading into the doble jornada was relatively quiet, especially compared to the chaos from the week before.
1.) Santos’ draw to Morelia should be cause for concern – but not too much concern. Santos had a golden opportunity to maintain their superlíder position with an away game against a Monarcas team that had a record of 2-1-3 at Estadio Morelos. However, they were only able to scratch out a 2-2 draw on a rainy Friday night, leaving the door wide open for Necaxa to successfully overtake them by beating Atlas late in the game that same night. Necaxa is a very good team and deserves to be where they are, but Santos can take heart that Los Rayos still haven’t had their bye week. That will happen this upcoming week, when Santos will host Querétaro on Tuesday. Los Gallos are currently tied with Santos at 27 points, but Santos haven’t lost at La Comarca Laguna in ages.
2.) You’re starting to see how the Liguilla is going to shake out. Necaxa, Santos, Querétaro, and América are all basically in. Tigres is most likely in too, and then there’s the three-point gap between them and the bubble teams. Atlas and Xolos are currently in, but Morelia is a point behind and got a good result against Santos. Pachuca and Pumas are just three points out and if they get hot at the right time, could pose some trouble. Cruz Azul, Monterrey, and San Luis are all four points out and technically still in it, but odds are they’re watching the festivities unfold. Still, there’s four weeks left to go so it may come down to who can hold it together down the stretch and who falls apart.
3.) The return to normalcy was nice. Liga MX isn’t known for being normal, but it was nice to have a week that wasn’t dominated by the scandalous situation in Veracruz. The league has such a vibrant and rich history, there is really good soccer being played right now (with most teams), and there is a wealth of talented players in the league, and as both a sportswriter and a fan it’s much more fun and rewarding to focus on that instead of a situation that is literally holding the league back. The sooner Fidel Kuri is out of the league, the better for everyone involved.
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