The ninth week of the Liga MX came and went, and the league is inching it’s way closer to the end of the season that signals that the playoffs are soon to start. It’s a mad dash to the top eight spots of the table and the teams near the middle of the table are feeling the pressure as these last fixtures are key if they are dreaming of la Liguilla.
Week 9 had a bounty of great matches, but the focal point of the week was the Clásico Regiomontano, or the Monterrey derby between los Rayados of Monterrey and Tigres from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL). Monterrey came into the game struggling to find their form and are one of the teams that needs to get in gear if they hope to make the playoffs.
Their rivals, Tigres, on the other hand are surging quickly to the top of the Liga MX table despite a slow start that could be attributed to their run in Copa Libertadores. Tigres, under the direction of Mexico manager Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti, have won five straight games after losing three out of four to start the season.
So a contrast in seasons leading up to this game but it was visiting Monterrey that struck first when Rogelio Funes Mori scored on a killer volley, silencing the crowd in el Volcán. The visitors took the 1-0 lead at halftime and were outplaying Tigres soundly and were hoping to take that momentum into the second half.
[h/t: HartoFutbol]
Unfortunately for los Rayados, Tigres came out determined to not fall at home to their arch rivals. It started with some nifty passing in the 53rd minute that led to an easy tap-in goal for Javier Aquino for the equalizer. Not 10 minutes passed before Tigres’ candidate for league leader in goals, their French talisman André-Pierre Gignac, scored a goal that Monterrey keeper Jonathan Orozco really should have had a handle on to put Tigres up 2-1.
Monterrey looked lost in the final half hour of the game and eventually it led to a defensive breakdown in the 79th minute that allowed José Rivas to tally another for Tigres for the decisive 3-1 win.
With this win Tigres sit comfortably in third place in the table with 16 points, trailing league leader León by four points and second and third place Pumas and América respectively by only two points.
On the other hand, Monterrey could have catapulted to seventh place but as of now they sit in 12th place with 11 points. There is a silver lining for los Rayados as they sit only three points away from a playoff spot, but they will have to perform way better if they want to stand a chance against the other seven teams that are within three points of a Liguilla position.
Scores:
Veracruz – 2 (Anibal Zurdo 69′, Julio Furch 81′)
Puebla – 1 (Francisco Torres 42′)
Santos – 0
Atlas – 2 (Arturo González 67′, Gonzalo Bergessio 69′)
Cruz Azul – 2 (Christian “Chaco” Giménez 5′ [p] & 67′ [p])
Pumas UNAM – 1 (Javier Cortés 42′)
Tigres UANL – 3 (Javier Aquino 53′, André-Pierre Gignac 62′, José Rivas 79′)
Monterrey – 1 (Rogelio Funes Mori 34′)
León – 2 (Juan Arango 45′ [OG], Carlos “Gulit” Peña 80′)
Tijuana – 1 (Dayro Moreno 90’+)
América – 3 (Andrés Andrade 69′, Oribe Peralta 73′ & 74′)
Morelia – 0
Pachuca – 2 (Hirving Lozano 19′, Erick Gutiérrez 54′)
Dorados – 1 (Héctor Raúl Mancilla 12′)
Toluca – 1 (Luis Rodríguez 53′ [OG])
Chiapas – 1 (Avilés Hurtado 38′)
Chivas – 2 (Victor Milke 21′ [OG], Omar Bravo 56′)
Querétaro – 1 (Victor Milke 79′)
