🦅 Can América go back-to-back?
Mexico City rival Cruz Azul stands between Las Aguilas and a first bicampeonato
For a league that so often feels like it’s churning through the usual suspects, Liga MX has a fair bit of parity.
The list of teams that have pulled off a bicampeonato has only three names - just one of them is a grande, one of Mexico’s four most successful teams historically.
Pumas, León and Atlas.
For the first two-and-a-half months of 2024, it looked all but a given that Club América would put its name on the list. Las Aguilas were flying high, starting the Liga MX campaign with six matches undefeated and ending the 17-match regular season with just two losses.
Yet, some turbulence along the path that still hasn’t cleared - plus a feisty looking title challenger from across town - has a potential back-to-back title win looking uncertain heading into the first leg of the final tonight and Sunday’s second leg.
América won the semifinal with Chivas 1-0 on aggregate but got past Pachuca in the previous round thanks to its better finish in the regular season.
“We were rewarded for the effort in the first part of the season in the knockout round,” América manager Andre Jardine said yesterday. “We’re confident because when you get to two straight finals it’s because you’re doing a lot of things well.
“But we know they’re going to be really tough game. It’s already going to be tough since it’s a rivalry game, a game against a team that’s been playing well. In a final, it makes the game even tougher. But we have the conditions to play well from the first game.”
Jardine isn’t just being respectful when he says Cruz Azul has been playing well. La Maquina’s only loss since the March international break came this weekend in a 2-1 defeat to Monterrey that still meant it would advance to the final.
In his first season, manager Martin Anselmi has been able to build a defensive base around Willer Ditta and Carlos Salcedo, veteran center backs that were already on the roster. He has overcome the lack of a true central forward by putting Uriel Antuna up top after the wide attacker’s strong start to the season. Antuna finished the season tied for the golden boot.
Overall, Anselmi has Cruz Azul choosing when and how to attack in a sharp way, with 20-year-old fullback/wingback/winger Rodrigo Huescas’ breakout campaign arriving in the Clausura even after a strong Apertura had fans wondering if that would be his breakout campaign.
If América’s spot in the final is expected because it won the Apertura and has sustained success in the past several seasons, Cruz Azul being two results away from a championship is startling to take on because of how sudden the change has come.
Anselmi arrived without much fanfare after coaching Independiente del Valle in Ecuador, and while sporting director Ivan Alonso is reviled in certain parts of Mexico from his playing days, few expected him to make savvy moves so quickly.
Last tournament saw Cruz Azul lose more matches than any other team in Liga MX, falling 10 times in 17 matches. This tournament, they won 10.
While they may be in better form heading into the final after the remarkable turnaround, things have not gone well in the past for Cruz Azul when playing finals against América. There was the famous header from Moises Muñoz that sent the 2013 Clausura to penalty kicks, which América won.
There was the 2018 Apertura final when Cruz Azul thought it would snap its decade-long title drought only for América to control the first leg in a scoreless draw, then dominate the second leg in a 2-0 win with Edson Alvarez scoring a double.
The 38-year-old Anselmi hadn’t formally started his career in 2013, and in 2018 he was coaching a reserve team in Ecuador. Eventually that would lead to his big break, but he’s been careful to note that what happened in those past series has little to do with what happens over the next four days.
“We don’t live in the past. Every final has its story and this will be ours,” he said. “For me, the past isn’t in play. Those are facts, stats. It’s not a revenge game or anything like that. It’s a final we want to win.”
Both teams want to win, and both have plenty of motivation: América to add its name to the short list of teams who can boast of being bicampeones, Cruz Azul to signify to its fans that La Maquina is back.
Liga MX final
First leg:
Tonight, 10p ET - Univision
Second leg:
Sunday, 9p ET - Univision
Monday I’ll have your recap, plus lots from Costa Rica, where the first leg of the final was wild and Keylor Navas just announced his international retirement … before the Copa América? Make sure you’re subscribed & tell your soccer group chat you’re digging Getting CONCACAFed