With the Liga MX regular season coming to a close we are finally getting a sense of which teams are going to make the playoffs, and which ones are staying home. The 12 team playoff system with a wild card round has allowed plenty of bad teams to hang around with a chance to make that wild card round even though they’ve had subpar seasons. The second to last matchday of the regular season left only two teams officially eliminated, and oddly enough those two teams may not be the biggest losers of the week. They’ve been toast for a couple of weeks.
On the flip side, teams like club America, and Cruz Azul were able to pick up big emotional wins. In the case of Club America the points are nice, but at this point in the season they weren’t exactly vital for them. The win against Chivas on an emotional level, controversial as it may have been, was way more important. Let’s start with bad news first though!
Biggest Losers Of The Week: Chivas, Pumas, & Caliente Ownership Group
Chivas not only lost to their biggest rival, but they also are coming into the final game of the season having lost 2 games in a row in a bad way. They were embarrassed by Tigres, and then showed some of the same deficiencies against Club America. The team has crash-landed to what is pretty much their reality at this point, a middle of the pack squad.
Pumas had a chance to control their own destiny, and get into the playoffs with a few wins in their last couple of games. Although they can still squeeze by if they win out, and get some help from other teams that outcome seems unlikely. Plenty of cash went into this team at the start of the year, and by this point they are the biggest disappointment of the Liga MX season.
Caliente ownership group is in quite the predicament. They were essentially returned ownership of Club Queretaro after the massive brawl that took place at La Corregidora stadium in the previous tournament. Currently, both of their teams occupy the last, and second to last positions in the relegation table. They may have to dish out a ton of cash at the end of next season if they can’t turn things around. There’s no easy fix for either of their teams. Queretaro is so bad they would potentially struggle in the expansion league let alone the first tier Liga MX tournament.
Biggest Winners Of The Week : Cruz Azul, Leon and Puebla
Cruz Azul put themselves very much in playoff contention with a win against Pumas. They’ve been decent under new coach Raul Gutierrez only taking an L against Monterrey who are a much better team. In that game though the team fought back after being down 2-0. They almost blew this Pumas game in the final minutes, but found a way to hold on and get the win.
Club Leon is perhaps the weirdest team in Liga MX. They’ve been crushed in certain games that you probably wouldn’t have expected like their Mazatlan loss. Overall though they find a way to beat most of the bad teams. After a loss against Cruz Azul they bounced back nicely, and beat Queretaro. A win is a win, and they are firmly in the playoffs.
Puebla had been very unlucky in their last couple of games. That draw against Queretaro was not what they expected, and then they blew a 2-0 lead against Pachuca recently. Their win against Tigres though proved that they can compete with any team. Even if they sometimes play down to their competition. This is not a team that others want to see in the playoffs!
