👍👎 The beauty and the ugliness at Estadio Azteca
Things get out of hand at Mexico's most important stadium. PLUS: Which cats are making the playoffs?
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We’re still wrapping our head around Jornada 15, but Jornada 16 begins tonight!
The Estadio Azteca is open once again with renovations nearly complete ahead of the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. That means Club América fans are once again filing in and supporting their beloved team. It’s a beautiful sight - until it’s not.
In the 97th minute of América’s match with Toluca, Diablos Rojos attacker Helinho make a ridiculous, red-card worthy tackle. He was shown that red, and then it all kicked off. After the first shoving match ended, Helinho and Alejandro Zendejas squared off. That skirmish spilled into the bench area where Toluca manager Antonio Mohamed insulted América boss Andre Jardine and players, coaches and even referees either jumped in or played peacemaker depending on their temperament in that moment.
The league handed down suspensions Monday night, but they are notably light for the incidents seen on the field - and especially for the moments that came after.
Helinho was suspended for three matches - one for the red card, another for violent conduct and another for that conduct continuing into the interior of the stadium. But the Estadio Azteca owners escaped with just a fine. This video, in which fans are heard yelling racist insults toward the player (and someone says ‘kill him!’) do not indicate a venue complying with the regulations designed to keep players safe.
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All of that totally obscured what was Club América’s most important win of the year, a game that keeps them in control of their playoff destiny and on pace for the No. 6 seed, avoiding the top two seeds.
It is no accident that América got a draw and a win against title contenders in their two matches back home.
But that home should be a cathedral of soccer, one where the game is honored and respected. Between the venom tossed at Helinho and the p word making its return during Concacaf Champions Cup matches, it is not a bright start toward showing the world what Mexican soccer can be about.
Leon rolls on … into a Liguilla place
It seems that Nacho Ambriz got one thing right this year. When he resigned as coach of Club León he suggested that perhaps he was the problem. He’d seen what he wanted from his players in training, picked lineups he felt would compete and was at a loss at how to change the results.
Well, maybe he was the problem.
León beat FC Juarez this weekend and has turned what looked like a wasted season into one that may be extended. A fourth win in a row puts León into eight place, good for the final playoff slot.
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Club América - currently in sixth - visits new manager Javier Gandolfi and the red-hot Fiera tonight in a sold-out match that has a lot riding on it for both teams. Each are sitting on 22 points and starting to show signs of life after miserable starts to the season.
León’s Panama international Ismael Diaz is fit and looks confident after struggling with a knee issue in the fall and early this season. He had a double against Bravos, but other players have chipped into the scoring efforts as well.
The winning streak includes just one victory over another team in the playoff places, seventh-place Atlas, so a win over América would be a huge step for Gandolfi.
Correa rescues roller-coaster Tigres with a point
Call it the Jon Arnold curse?
I head to Monterrey, and BOTH the Nuevo Leon teams fall out of the playoff places.
But Tigres are right in the hunt thanks to Angel Correa scoring a late goal in Aguascalientes to rescue a point.
Just when it looked like Guido Pizarro’s squad was finding some consistency - advancing in the Concacaf Champions Cup and getting the big win over Chivas - they slip up once again. It’s a tough travel schedule to go from Monterrey to Seattle to Aguascalientes, but Tigres are running out of games in which they can take a mulligan.
Tomorrow night’s trip to Atlas could decide which of those two teams makes the postseason.
Tigres were expected to put a few young players on the field with them and Cruz Azul the only team yet to hit the minutes requirement for youth players. Both should be able to do so by fielding just one player under 22 years old in the final two matches. But now they have to field a young player in a game they need to get points in to keep pushing for the Liguilla.
Elsewhere in Liga MX
Atletico San Luis 0-2 Pumas - A sign of Pumas being back is the number of fans that turned up to greet the club in San Luis. Some media outlets made a big deal of Keylor Navas grimacing after a fan grabbed his hand for too long, but he started and kept a clean sheet.
Mazatlan 1-1 Queretaro - I hope to write more about Mazatlan’s final-ever Liga MX home match Wednesday, but..that’s a thing that is happening.
Cruz Azul 1-1 Tijuana - Gilberto Mora got another half-hour in and is tracking toward a World Cup spot, though it sounds like he’ll be evaluated in camp once that convenes.
Monterrey 1-3 Pachuca - Rayados are eliminated from the playoffs.
Chivas 5-0 Puebla
Santos Laguna 0-1 Atlas - Grupo Orlegi boss Alejandro Irarragorri spoke recently about the potential sale of Atlas. If things go well, this will be the last meeting of Santos and Atlas in which both clubs are owned by Orlegi. Reports indicate that businessman José Miguel Bejos, who currently owns the baseball team in Puebla, has reached an agreement with Irarragorri - brokered by a firm in the U.S. - to take over the team.
That wouldn’t be big news were it not for the rumors that Puebla may be acquired by a group bringing Morelia back to the first division. As alluded to above, we already expect Mazatlan to move to Mexico City and become Atlante.
El Tri ready?
As we’ve been discussing since January, the Mexico national team players based in Liga MX will leave their teams before the Liguilla begins in an effort to help El Tri perform as well as possible at the World Cup.
A reported list is circulating with the names of the players who fit the bill, with the official word expected to come later this week.
There are no huge surprises.
There are questions about how many forwards Javier Aguirre will take with him, but Hormiga Gonzalez has been so consistent in Liga MX - at the same time German Bertarame’s form took a dip - I think he’s always been in the plans.
Guillermo Ochoa will be the first arrival from Europe. Gilberto Mora and Marcel Ruiz both need to pass fitness tests to make the final lists.
Clearly, Chivas take the biggest hit (as we talked about last week) with more than half of Gabriel Milito’s starters gone.
If he’s able to get a trophy this season, put him in the Hall of Fame.
Back Thursday with a review of the midweek action in Liga MX, plus the Conca-catch-up where we’ll get into a rivalry game in Costa Rica, craziness in Nicaragua and run down the Concacaf W Championship qualification situation.