For the casual fans of LigaMX, and the bettors who followed our picks, last night was a disaster! Of course, the ones who had it worst were Toluca fans, with the only people elated after last night being Pachuca supporters. The game got out of hand real quickly. It wasn’t even like the game that Pachuca had against Rayados where it was competitive for a while. This was a beat down from the word go! So what actually happened?
Toluca’s Defense Reverted To Its Worst Form
You never want to single out any one player, particularly when something like this happens. Actually though, it makes sense that when you get such a lopsided score line in a final one player, particularly on the back line just wasn’t up to the challenge. Haret Ortega was atrocious last night. He had a hand in about 3 of the first 4 goals, at least in two of them it’s his mistake that leads to the goal. In the Romario Ibarra play where he takes the ball virtually through the middle of the Toluca defense it’s Ortega who has a chance to step in front of him, and make a clearance, but he just whiffs.
In the set piece play that ended in the 4-0 goal he again goes for the ball, and misses. That zone defense in general on that play was terrible, but Ortega was the worst of the bunch. It’s no surprise that he got subbed at half time. Carlos Guzman at the left back spot is also a liability. Let’s not get it twisted he’s been a liability all season, he’s a very limited player. In some of the other games though he did enough to at least not hurt the team. Ultimately these two guys showed their worst side. That can happen to limited players in high pressure moments.
More Offensive Players Don’t Always Equal A Better Offense
There’s no question that the back line was to blame for plenty of the issues, but Nacho Ambriz’s choice to start so many offensive players and leave that middle of the field kind of bare came back to bite him. He started with Meneses, Leo Fernandez, Sanvezzo, and Gonzalez. That meant that Marcel Ruiz, and Baeza were constantly outnumbered running back towards their own end with not a lot of help from some of their other teammates in the midfield.
That’s why two of the first 4 goals come off a counter. Pachuca was more than happy to let Toluca push forward even as they pressed upward; they didn’t have a ton of chances in that first half. Once Pachuca got the ball back they played some great transition offense. Those through balls by Luis Chavez, and Erick Sanchez gutted the Toluca defense. Of course Ibarra had himself a day. Ambriz was too ambitious, and he paid for it dearly!
Where Does Toluca Go From Here?
This may not make a lot of sense since we’ve just got done criticizing Ambriz starting 11 for last night’s game. But, he’ll probably have to start with virtually the same 11 may be making some adjustments on the back end. Get another center back in there, Ortega is probably not emotionally equipped to play another game. From there his hope is going to be that he’ll be able to score early and flip the game on its head. Put some pressure on Pachuca, and force them to make the mistakes this time around.
Although, Memo Almada, the manager for Pachuca, said that his team would play the next game as if the series was tied, don’t be surprised if they play another highly defensive game like they did in Monterrey last weekend. There’s no reason for them to take any chances the title is theirs to lose.
