32 Flags is pleased to announce that we will report on the Liga MX Apertura 2015, the highest division of Mexican soccer, on a weekly basis and bring you the highlights, recaps, and scores of the week.
News Headlines:
- The biggest headline from Week 5 is that Pedro Caixinha, the manager of Santos Laguna, has resigned from his post just after losing to América 2-0. Many are linking him to the Mexico job along with former Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa, but Caixinha has previously denied this rumor. Santos currently sit in last place in the league with four losses and only one win.
- Mauro Boselli (León) and Darío Benedetto (América) both scored braces in their games and are number one and two, respectively, in goals scored in the league. Boselli has six while Benedetto has five.
- French import André-Pierre Gignac scored a hat-trick in Tigres’ win over Chiapas as los Felinos are looking better after their disappointing showing in the Copa Libertadores final.
- Dorados have overtaken Chivas as the team that would get relegated, as both teams lost, but the percentage is in Chivas’ favor as Dorados now have a lower points-per-game-played ratio.
- United States’ very own Paul Arriola netted his very first goal of the season in Tijuana’s win over Cruz Azul.
Notable Game:
León vs. Monarcas
This matchup featured two teams battling for the top spot in the Liga MX. Both teams came into the game with nine points each and whoever achieved victory would get first place.
The game got off to a blistering pace with a golazo by León’s Luis Montes had León up by a goal at the end of the first half, with the score at 2-1 thanks to another León goal by “Gulit” Peña right before the half.
Monarcas did not need to wait long to get the lead back from los Esmeraldas as a blistering shot from outside the box by Cristian Pellerano and another goal by Facundo Erpen, just two minutes apart from each other, had the home team up by a goal.
However, León would answer back with the league’s leading scorer, Mauro Boselli, as he would get two goals within eight minutes of each other and would seal the three points for León as well as the top spot for La Fiera.
Golazos of the Week:
Edwin Cardona – Monterrey.
Talk about chipping the goalkeeper. The Colombian striker saw Dorados keeper Luis Michel way out of his line and delivered a cheeky chip that Michel could only watch go into his net as he helplessly dove for it like a wide receiver laying out to make a catch. Here is the play from another angle.
[h/t: Omar Zeron]
Cristian Pellerano – Monarcas. Wow. What a bomb by Pellerano from long distance and it rings off the post to go in. A beauty by the Monarcas midfielder.
[h/t: Roberto Maurer Pons]
Edwin Cardona (again) – Monterrey.
I chose Cardona’s second goal against Dorados because wow. The Colombian really had Michel’s number this game as he just left him looking like a statue with that shot. How bad do you have to fool the goalkeeper to freeze him enough to make him look at the ball as it calmly rolls its way into the net?
Scores:
Veracruz – 2 (Julio Furch 7’, Emanuel “Tito” Villa [OG] 18’)
Querétaro – 2 (Edgar Benítez 25’, Emanuel “Tito” Villa 39’)
Santos – 0
América – 2 (Darío Benedetto 39’ & 67’)
Cruz Azul – 1 (Christian “Chaco” Giménez 8’ [p])
Tijuana – 3 (Dayro Moreno 22’, Juan Arango 24’, Paul Arriola 48’)
Monarcas – 3 (Ignacio González 17’, Cristian Pellerano 49’, Facundo Erpen 51’)
León – 4 (Luis Montes 24’, Carlos “Gulit” Peña 41’, Mauro Boselli 69’ & 77’)
Tigres UANL – 4 (André-Pierre Gignac 28’, 36’, & 69’, Rafael Sobis 53’)
Chiapas – 1 (Diego de la Torre 54’)
Pachuca – 1 (Hirving Lozano 46’)
Pumas UNAM – 2 (Eduardo Herrera 20’, Javier Cortés 72’)
Atlas – 2 (Eisner Loboa 10’, Juan Medina [p] 23’)
Puebla – 1 (Gustavo Matías Alustiza [p] 85’)
Dorados – 1 (Roberto Nurse 74’)
Monterrey – 4 (Dorlan Pabón 2’, Edwin Cardona 42’ & 53’, Rogelio Funes Morí 56’)
Toluca – 3 (Fernando Uribe 28’ & 73’, Enrique Triverio [p] 44’)
Chivas – 1 (Omar Bravo 55’)
