10:33 PM ET
Cesar Hernandez
Get acceptable for the Liga MX final! Beginning with Thursday's archetypal limb astatine Toluca and wrapping up with Sunday's 2nd limb astatine Pachuca, this week volition specify the winners of the 2022 Apertura tournament.
Will Toluca clinch an 11th rubric and determination 1 measurement person to surpassing the trophy tally of Liga MX giants Chivas and Club America? Will Pachuca debar back-to-back last losses successful 2022 aft antecedently falling conscionable abbreviated successful the erstwhile season? Here's everything you request to cognize astir the 2 finalists.
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Toluca (Regular season: 6th place, 7W-6D-4L)
There were initially worries earlier Toluca's blistering tally done the playoffs. Despite a superb commencement to the Apertura play that saw them suffer conscionable 1 of their 10 games, Los Diablo Rojos mislaid vigor astatine the extremity of the regular play with conscionable 1 triumph successful their past seven.
Once successful the Liguilla, they've appeared wholly reinvigorated. Toluca thrashed FC Juarez 3-0 successful the play-in round, scored a fistful of goals against Santos Laguna successful a 6-4 aggregate triumph successful the quarterfinals, and past stunned title-favorites and No. 1 effect Club America with a 3-2 aggregate triumph successful the semis.
Strengths/weaknesses
Manager Ignacio "Nacho" Ambriz stands retired arsenic 1 of the much important strengths for Toluca. Stepping into the playoffs with his underdog roster, Ambriz has outcoached superior teams done an businesslike benignant of play that has strengthened the backline and forced errors from opponents.
"He's a genius," said Toluca midfielder Sebastian Saucedo to ESPN astir Ambriz. "The mode helium works grooming sessions, possession, each those small things...this feline is the existent deal."
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There's a discernible unity successful Toluca's squad that is greater than the sum of their parts. As portion of the group, Ambriz virtually enactment connected the Toluca jersey successful the semifinals arsenic well. In the archetypal limb against Club America, the manager wore the location kit connected the sideline and aft the 2nd limb helium erstwhile again sported the Toluca jersey successful the post-game quality conference.
According to Salcedo, Ambriz told his players: "I privation to beryllium a portion of you guys," astir wearing the jersey.
All that said, Toluca astatine times look arsenic a enactment successful progress. After a superior roster overhaul implicit the summer, determination are occasional disconnects successful their ain fractional that person forced goalkeeper Tiago Volpi to marque countless saves. For reference, portion chap finalists Pachuca person amassed an expected goals against (xGA) tally of 22.72 done the playoffs, Toluca person a full that is astir treble astatine 37.17.
Who is their MVP?
Volpi, who has adjacent provided a extremity and assistance successful the playoffs for Toluca, is worthy of a notation arsenic 1 of the apical goalkeepers this season. In the attack, midfielders specified arsenic Jean Meneses and Leonardo Fernandez are besides successful the conversation. While Meneses has provided 8 goals and 4 assists, Fernandez has been conscionable arsenic influential done six goals and 9 assists. On paper, some of the playmakers and goalscorers would beryllium deserved members of a Liga MX champion XI for the Apertura season.
Marcel Ruiz -- who Salcedo calls the "most underrated Mexican shot player" -- shouldn't beryllium ignored either. Typically utilized arsenic a near cardinal midfielder, the 22-year-old does an immense magnitude of enactment done his tackles and organisation that assistance supply the instauration for plays going forward.
"The fluidity of the crippled that helium gives us...[Ruiz] doesn't get the recognition that helium should. He's amended than a batch of midfielders successful this league," Salcedo said.
What a rubric would mean for the club
For their coach, Ambriz would regain his presumption arsenic 1 of the country's apical managers, if not the best. After winning titles with Club America, Necaxa and Leon, Ambriz's banal past fell successful 2021 erstwhile helium was dropped by Huesca successful Spain's 2nd part aft conscionable a fewer months. Now backmost successful Liga MX with Toluca, he's erstwhile again highlighting that helium inactive has overmuch to connection successful the Mexican shot world.
As for Toluca, immoderate well-earned respect could beryllium claimed arsenic well. Despite having much titles (10) than members of the "big four" similar Cruz Azul (9) and Pumas (7), Los Diablos Rojos aren't typically successful the speech of an equipo grande successful Liga MX. If they moved further past those beneath them and are past conscionable 1 rubric down Chivas (11) and 2 down Club America (13), Toluca could assertion presumption arsenic among the league's elite squads.
"[Toluca] don't get immoderate respect and they're the third-most winning squad successful the league. People can't beryllium present and archer maine that they're not worthy being 1 of those apical teams," Saucedo said.
Pachuca (Regular season: 4th place, 9W-5D-3L)
Pachuca were 1 of the much accordant squads successful the Apertura that remained successful the apical 4 of the league array for 12 of the 17 weeks successful the regular season. After a shortened preseason owed to reaching the erstwhile title bid successful the 2022 Clausura -- wherever they mislaid to Atlas -- manager Guillermo Almada and Los Tuzos yet deed their stride by the mid-point of this campaign, losing conscionable erstwhile successful their past 9 regular play games.
In the playoffs, they sneaked past Tigres successful the quarterfinals acknowledgment to a higher effect tiebreaker successful a 2-2 aggregate result, earlier dominating Monterrey 6-2 connected aggregate successful the semifinals.
Strengths/weaknesses
Like Toluca, the manager is owed a immense magnitude of recognition here. Almada is adept astatine not lone utilizing an attack-minded benignant that has produced a league-leading mean of 14.7 shots per 90 minutes, but is besides capable to person his squad beryllium successful a compact 4-2-3-1 enactment that tin unopen down opponents.
A important portion of this is striker Nicolas Ibañez, who finished arsenic the Golden Boot victor for the Apertura play acknowledgment to his 11 goals. More than conscionable a goalscorer, what makes the 28-year-old Argentine striker truthful unsafe is his quality to resistance defenders distant from the last 3rd that allows his teammates to past tally into unfastened spaces. As for whether he'll purpose to beryllium much of a goalscorer oregon idiosyncratic who is trying to beryllium originative with positioning, Ibañez was coy with however helium saw himself
"Hopefully successful the upcoming games I tin bash both," Ibañez said smiling astatine quality conference. "That's what the manager sometimes asks of us, to effort to make abstraction and propulsion a marker that leaves a teammate alone."
It's entertaining to ticker Pachuca erstwhile they typically propulsion numbers guardant successful these situations that impact overlapping runs, but it has besides led to opponents taking vantage of counters that tin drawback them off-guard. A antiaircraft attack is the solution here, peculiarly successful the archetypal distant leg, but determination seems to beryllium nary denotation they'll beryllium cautious connected Thursday successful Toluca.
"We mislaid the archetypal limb with Atlas [in the 2022 Clausura] and successful the 2nd limb we were 1 extremity behind. The archetypal crippled is going to beryllium very, precise important. We person to springiness our all," Ibañez said.
Who is their MVP?
Choosing Liga MX's Golden Boot victor is the casual reply here. Ibañez is the focal constituent of the onslaught and a important people antheral with his aerial abilities. With his spot and aggression, helium is besides a antiaircraft plus erstwhile providing clearances disconnected set-pieces oregon corners.
Midfielders Erick Sanchez and Luis Chavez merit immoderate of the spotlight arsenic well. Both are portion of Mexico's preliminary World Cup roster, and their cardinal midfield concern is arguably the champion successful Liga MX. Both are incredibly well-rounded, but portion Chavez has been a game-changer with his shots and progressive passes, Sanchez is much of a playmaker that provides important interceptions.
Once the play is implicit and erstwhile Qatar 2022 is wrapped up, it wouldn't beryllium a daze to spot either midfielder successful Europe.
What a rubric would mean for the club
A rubric would enactment the nine and manager's doctrine of uncovering occurrence done a equilibrium of academy products and experienced overseas additions. Unlike much affluent teams similar Monterrey oregon Tigres that effort to propulsion wealth astatine their roster problems, Pachuca person thrived nether a strategy that boasts immoderate of the astir breathtaking up-and-coming names successful Mexican soccer.
Pachuca had already wrapped up the bid by the last stages of the 2nd semifinal limb against Monterrey, but notably during the past minutes of that match, it was awesome to spot Almada adjacent retired the bid connected a precocious enactment with 4 U23 academy players connected the field.
Coupled with an charismatic benignant of attack-minded soccer, Pachuca would beryllium rightful winners successful the Apertura, particularly aft Almada and his squad narrowly mislaid 3-2 connected aggregate to Atlas successful past season's Liga MX final.
The likelihood -- 72% for a Pachuca championship, 28% for Toluca, via FiveThirtyEight -- enactment the back-to-back finalists who finished 5 points supra Toluca, but does this mean they volition beryllium the casual favorites this week?
"Favorites? I don't deliberation so," said Ibañez this week. "Toluca eliminated the squad [Club America] that was supposedly already champion oregon was connected the way to becoming a champion...It's going to beryllium a adjacent final."
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