As we mentioned in the America and Cruz Azul article both of the matchups that we saw last night in the Liga MX preseason tournament featured teams that really showed emotion and a will to win that was not necessarily present in most of the other games in the tournament. Chivas and Atlas proved once again that the rivalry between these two teams makes them incapable of playing a “friendly” game. The match was played on a terrible Estadio Jalisco field. You just have to wonder if the people who schedule games at Liga MX ever talk to the grounds crew.
The field at the Jalisco stadium is getting a face lift, and it could suffer throughout the whole season since it seems it hasn’t had the time to rest and settle before the season. If that was going to be the case, then this preseason tournament could’ve easily been played somewhere else. With that aside though let’s get to what we saw from both teams and what we expect from them moving forward.
Atlas Is Going To Struggle Across The Board
The days of Atlas fighting for championships seems to be long gone. They are actually tough to evaluate because we’re looking at a roster that includes some of the players that won the title back to back. At the same time though those some guys and some of the more recent signings were at the bottom of the barrel last season. We don’t necessarily expect this team to be that bad this season. There were a couple of things that we certainly liked yesterday. The team competed for possession the whole game, and created some goal scoring chances. If Quiñones or Furch don’t get going though it looks like they’ll have a tough time finding the back of the net.
Their new head coach is a total enigma for Liga MX. People know him more in Mexico for his time in a reality show. Then again Rafa Puente Jr. head coach of Pumas also did “novelas” in younger years, so this phenomenon is not exclusive to Atlas. Atlas got Rocha back, and he’ll help sure up that midfield. Santa Maria in the back line is a butcher, and will probably be monitored more closely by the refs this year. Ultimately though the team is not loaded with talent, so we do expect this team to struggle.
Pump The Brakes On Chivas
We’ve said even before this game that Chivas has looked pretty much as good as they can look so far in the preseason. We liked the moves that they made in the off season. Sure, they didn’t get the big splash at center forward that would’ve been either Brandon Vazquez or Chicharito. That’s the weak spot for the club heading into next season. So far so good though there’s a competitiveness to this team that’s a major positive. Alexis Vega was finally back on the field for a couple of minutes. That’s a good sign heading into the start of the season.
What we’re worried about though is them hitting the wall a bit like they did last season. Let’s not forget that this team played well throughout most of the year under Ricardo Cadena. Even going back to the days of Marcelo Michel Leaño there were positive moments with this team. Ultimately that lack of punching power up front came back to bite them again and again. Until we see that they’ve solved their issues in front of goal we’re going to be reluctant to call them true contenders. Even if they beat Cruz Azul in the final of the preseason tournament.
