We’ve been treated to a couple of Liga MX preseason games in the last few days, and at this point everyone and their mother can confirm that the quality of the games has been extremely subpar. None of the teams that we’ve seen so far seem to be in decent form. It’s actually a good thing that new signings have not been able to play in these first few games. Playing now would almost guarantee that the majority of these signings would make quite a poor first impression. That’s never something that you want out of a new signing.
Going back to what we’ve seen on the field though, we’ve already established that things have been pretty bad. In fact, we went almost 3 full games of the preseason before we saw the first goal! There are actually valid reasons as to why these games have been or have at least seemed awful!
We’re Looking At Them With World Cup Bias
Any time fans go from watching a really intense game and move towards something that’s more recreational you can tell right away the differences. We don’t want to put Liga MX down too much. At the end of the day it is the league that we watch the most and are passionate. When it comes to these preseason games though you just can’t compare the level of intensity that we see in these games to what we’ve seen at the World Cup.
Particularly in the direct elimination games that we’ve gotten a chance to watch over the last few weeks. Teams are playing with a sense of urgency that’s nowhere to be found in the Liga MX preseason. Of course, we would be lying if we didn’t acknowledge the fact that players particularly from the teams that are still left in the tournament are considerably more talented than the guys playing in the Liga MX preseason. Making a head-to-head comparison is not fair. Ultimately though, it does make the Liga MX games look potentially worse than they really are.
Players Are Stiff From Preseason Work
Most Mexican teams do pretty heavy preseason work usually on Mexican beaches. What usually takes place is just intense running and gym work for about a full week or two. After those types of workouts players are naturally going to be really stiff. We could make the argument that this type of traditional preseason workout is not ideal in this day and age.
Most European squads don’t go through the preseason physical gauntlet. What they do is they crank up the intensity of the workouts, but most of them are workouts that include shooting, passing, and everything in between. Most Mexican teams, though, literally don’t touch a ball for two weeks and just run and lift weights. Supposedly this is meant to ensure that players are perfectly fit for an entire year. Since they’ve been doing excessive running and gym work they all for the most look awful on the ball.
There’s A Lot Of Young Players Playing
In the Cruz Azul game for example we saw the assistant coach’s son Marco Sanchez get sent off after just a couple of minutes on the field. For a young player these preseason minutes are so important. Oddly enough you’re probably in the worst playing shape that you’ll ever be in when you’re getting the chance to be on the field. It’s brutal when you think about it. It’s no wonder that we don’t get too many young kids playing in Liga MX. The young guys tend to make too many mental mistakes because they’re under so much pressure to perform for these guys. It’s only a few that are able to shine. Sadly, their lackluster play makes the games rather boring.
