Results in a strange tournament

The 2025 League Cup is happening, and I have been watching some of the matches in a strange tournament that officially is a "friendly" tournament, but the winner qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, also despite the fact that the tournament is not sponsored by CONCACAF.

The tournament started in 2019 as a confrontation between the MLS and the Liga MX. 18 teams from each league participate and only play teams from the other league, three matches, with three points for a win, two points for a win on penalty kicks (it goes straight to penalty kicks if it ends in a tie), and one point for a tie (so you keep it if you lose on penalty kicks). The top eight teams, four from each league, then progress to play-off quarterfinals.

Yesterday the league stage ended with two top teams, firstly the Mexican champions from Toluca, and secondly Seattle Sounders, who won three straight matches, one a 7-0 destruction of the CONCACAF Champions Cup winners Cruz Azul. Besides Toluca, Pachuca and Tigres the Mexican sides have appeared very weak indeed; mighty America only managed three ties against Real Salt Lake, Minnesota United and Portland Timbers, while other sides than Cruz Azul also suffered big defeats to MLS sides such as Necaxa, Atlas and Santo Laguna. Regarding the latter I watched their 0-4 defeat against an LA Galaxy side with the German veteran star Marco Reus in midfield, and frankly 0-4 was too little in a match where Santos Laguna looked more like a Danish 3rd division side, and on top of that got two well-deserved red cards.

What Santos Laguna showed was perhaps the worst side of Mexican football.

While MLS sides did well overall, there was not much difference between the top four teams, amongst which Messi's Inter Miami ended on second place. In their last match they also proved better than the Mexico City side Pumas UNAM, who may have gone ahead, but then were vastly outplayed by a Miami side with Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul as goalscorers and architects of the goals. I must admit that I have had reserves against Miami, but this was one of the best matches I have seen them play, and are really worth following.

The quarterfinals are in a couple of weeks, and fully replace the league matches in both leagues. All this said, it is more a comparative tournament between two leagues, perhaps more valuable for MLS to show the significant advances that the league is going through. 

Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals

My favourite Mexican side, Cruz Azul, are in the final of the CONCACAF Champions club for the first time since 2014. The match that took them to the final was a 1-0 victory in a nervous and tactical match against the Tigres of UANL, winning on a late handball penalty (quite harsh) scored by Angel Sepulveda (the top scorer of the tournament). 

Great for a club whom success often eluded (but I bring good luck), although the final will not be easy. They will face the MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps, who already eliminated the Pumas of UNAM in the quarterfinals, and basically destroyed Lionel Messi's Inter Miami in the semifinals with a total of 5-1 (underlining that a football team is not made by stars and names). The Vancouver side is managed by the ex-Brøndby and Silkeborg Manager, Jesper Sørensen, who is looking for the Canadian side's first continental title (it would indeed be the first for a Canadian side, and the fourth for an MLS side, in the sad case that they win).

The final will be on June 1st in Los Angeles.

A lot of America-Cruz Azul

The two great clubs of Mexico City have met three times in the last 10 days. Firstly, they faced one another home and away in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The first boring 0-0 at America (which was ironically played in Cruz Azul's stadium, which has been taken over by America as the Azteca Stadium is being rebuilt, and Cruz Azul plays at the Olympic Stadium) was replaced by a tense 2nd leg, where the veteran Mexican striker Angel Sepulveda was the star: he scored after only 12 minutes, as well as the victory 2-1 goal in the 85th minute following Alvaro Fidalgo's equalizer for America.

Sepulveda is presently the top goalscorer in the CONCACAF Champions Cup ahead of one Lionel Messi (whose team, Inter Miami, is also in the semifinals, facing Vancouver Whitecaps), and will look to score more as Cruz Azul faces the UANL Tigres in the semifinals.

Yesterday Cruz Azul faced America in the Clausura league. A victory to America could have put them in first spot, while a Blue victory could have put them on second spot. But it ended 0-0, and Toluca, who defeated Atlas 2-3 are now leaders. That said, there are two matches left, and the top 6 teams go into the quarterfinals, and it seems that both America and Cruz Azul will be there (unless they totally mess it up). 

Suffering with Cruz Azul

Here in Mexico they say that being a Cruz Azul fan is to suffer, and yesterday I suffer.

Cruz Azul has not been convincing under their new Uruguayan manager Vicente Sanchez, and they were hosting the Rayados of Monterrey with their new signing in central defense, the former Real Madrid player and all-time record-holder for most red cards in the Spanish League, Sergio Ramos.

Cruz Azul started a bit nervous, and it was none other than an unmarked Sergio Ramos who scored on a header after only 12 minutes, following a corner kick.

After this it was Cruz Azul dominating, and it seemed that Mr. Ramos and company had their problems with in particular Angel Sepulveda and the Polish Cruz Azul player Mateusz Bogusz. And in fact Nacho Rivero's equalizer came from a perfect pass from the Pole in between the two Monterrey central defenders.

1-1 at halftime and Cruz Azul came out with everything in the second half, and within the first fifteen minutes had 4-5 great chances to score, but this is where one suffers, as the strikers were too forgiving. Ten minutes before time, when it felt that Cruz Azul's dominance had to give a goal the Cruz Azul Argentine defender Gonzalo Piovi, who had played a fantastic match, received a direct red card, and this took the air out of the home side. That said, the Greek striker Giorgios Giakoumakis had a chance to win the match for the home team, but in the most shameful way missed.

So it ended 1-1 for Monterrey and Sergio Ramos, and they can only be satisfied, although Ramos was widely booed by the fans for his constant complaining during every situation, and should probably have received a yellow card.

But he will eventually.  

America champion

 This year I moved to Mexico, and I have adopted Cruz Azul as my team. They ended 1st in the league, but that is not enough to be champion in Mexico where, after the league, they go into playoff matches and a final. Cruz Azul was eliminated by their local rivals for Mexico City in the semifinals after an intense 3-4 loss, and America faced Monterrey in the two-legged final.

America won 2-1 in Mexico City, and last night they took the title away in an intense atmosphere in Northern Mexico. They went ahead after half an hour by a splendid long-range strike by the Paraguayan midfielder Richard Sanchez. Monterrey pressured, and did get chances, but America were also incredibly dangerous on the counterattacks. It was only five minutes before the end of the match when Colombian striker Johan Rojas equalized on another outstanding strike. Monterrey attacked like crazy and even hit the post, but it ended 1-1, and America won the third consecutive title in a row.

I must admit that I am not too fond of this league format with playoffs and a final: America did not have a good season and had in fact only ended 8th in the league, barely making the playoffs, but now they were crowned champions despite it all.

Well, another season is coming...

Cruz Azul and other things

Yesterday was a special day, as I moved into my new apartment that will hopefully be my home in Mexico for years ahead.

Shortly after receiving the keys I went to a nearby bar that was showing the classic match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. I must admit that it has been some years since this match has excited me, but this one was special: it was 0-0 at halftime, but I expected that Barcelona’s forward defensive line would succumb to the quick Real Madrid strikers, as there were indeed close calls in the first half. But Barcelona were simply extraordinary in the second half: two goals by Robert Lewandowski, a splendid strike by Lamine Yamal (sadly marred by racist chants amid Real Madrid fans) and a great lob from Rafinha made it 0-4 and a demonstration by a resurrected Barcelona under Hansi Flick. They also destroyed Borussia Dortmund 1-4 in the Champions League and if they keep it up they are a team to beat.

Later that day I went to the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico City. The legendary stadium of the 1968 Olympics, where Bob Beamon made the second longest jump in history. Today the beautiful stadium is home ground to Pumas de UNAM, and they were facing Cruz Azul a home derby in the Mexican league. I got the tickets through Cruz Azul, so was sitting amid hardcore Cruz Azul fans behind one of the goals surrounded by copious (but largely unnecessary) riot police.

And perhaps for the best, as Cruz Azul, current leaders of the league, were by far better. It took only 27 seconds for them to go ahead on a goal by veteran striker Angel Sepúlveda, and barely 12 minutes later Uruguayan Ignacio Rivero made it 0-2. Cruz Azul then relaxed and really Pumas represented no threat in a match that all in all appeared too easy for Cruz Azul, and it ended 0-2, and I may be on the way to becoming a Cruz Azul fan, whose mascot is a piece of cement,

The mascot of Pumas is supposedly a puma, but it looks more like a cross between the lion king, Beverly Hills chihuahua and Robert Procineski. And the mascot sang karaoke love songs at half time: “nunca voy a olvidarte” (I will never forget you) seemed totally out of place as I would have wanted to forget the Puma defense after that first half….

But respect to the Goya, Pumas fanbase, who despite their team, were never silenced.

Good time with beer and chants, but I look forward to going to a match at Cruz Azul’s home ground in Mexico DF.

Trying for Cruz Azul against Necaxa

 Today I wanted to go and watch the local Mexico City side of Cruz Azul face Necaxa. I was trying to buy ticket online on my way to the stadium in the metro and metrobus, but on the one hand had a bad connection, but worse, Ticketmaster.com continues to be the worst facilitator of tickets in the world. I already had big problems with tickets I had bought for an MLS match in the US: I had already purchased the tickets, but when heading to the match, I could not get them in my account that was "registered outside the US". The problem was similar yesterday, as I have a Danish ticketmaster account, but could not access the tickets on that account, while when I accessed through Mexican ticketmaster, I was not able to pay with a non-Mexican credit card.

I did make it to the stadium twenty minutes before kick-off. In this digital world it was not possible to buy a ticket outside the stadium which makes it so much more ridiculous that it has to be so difficult to get a ticket.

In the end, without a ticket, I went to a bar and watched the match which Cruz Azul won 3-0, and they maintain a comfortable lead at the top of the Mexican Apertura league. As I had my beers I could see that the stadium was not full, which makes this ticketing challenge so much more stupid.

The CONCACAF Champions League 2021 finalists

The CONCACAF Champions League has always been won by Mexican teams, and this year will be no exception as the finalists have been found, and they are both Mexican sides.

Philadephia Union were the only MLS team represented in the semifinals, but were against all odds when playing the Mexican giants of Club America. The Mexicans had won 2-0 at home, and repeated the victory in Philadephia with the same score.

Club America will be playing their 8th final in the CONCACAF Champions League/Cup, and the team managed by Santiago Solari have reason to be optimistic, as they have won all of their seven previous finals.

The other finalist will be the "Rayados" from Monterrey. They roundly defeated the defending Mexican champions of Cruz Azul. They first won 1-0 in Monterrey, and then trashed the Cruz Azul side in Mexico City 1-4. Sadly the match had to be suspended halfway through the second half (when Monterrey were already 1-4 ahead) due to the frequent problem in Mexican football of a homophobic chant (I don't understand much what suspending it does, as I think that whoever chanted did not care; much more efficient would be to find the perpetrators and suspend them from the stadium with a fine, and play future matches without spectators; if it continues, throw the teams out of the tournament!).

Monterrey have won the Champions League four times, the first in 2011, so all their titles have been in the Champions League era. And just as America: Monterrey have never lost a CONCACAF Champions League final.

So one of the teams will lose a final for the first time, and as strong as they are looking, it could be either of them.

The curse is lifted

Cruz Azul has had an awesome season that they were expected to crown today as they played at home at the Estadio Azteca against Santos Lagunas in the second leg of the Mexican Guardianes finals. 

"La Maquina" had won the first leg 0-1, and with a 1-1 tie they took the title that had eluded them for 23 years, to a degree that many believed that there was a curse on the team. Perhaps the curse was in the player's head, as the team initially appeared  tense, and Santos Laguna was clearly the better side in the first half. But the second half was Cruz Azul's and they deservedly got an equalizer from their Uruguayan striker "Cabecita" Rodriguez. They were still nervous though, and the dying seconds of the match exploded into a brawl between the players, as the tension of the dying second was clearly too much for some Cruz Azul players.

A pity to end the match like that, but it was quickly forgotten amid the delight of thousands of fans, who have suffered so many disappointments for 23 years, but have stuck to their team. I am sure they will be celebrating like crazy!

It is interesting that quite a few leagues have been won by clubs that had been waiting for a title for many years, just as Cruz Azul (although none for 23 years!): Spain (Atletico Madrid, 7 years), Denmark (Brøndby, 16 years), Italy (Inter Milan, 11 years), France (Lille, 10 years), or even just here in El Salvador, where FAS took their first title for 12 years.

Maybe it is the year that that ended all curses!

The 2021 CONCACAF Champions League knock-out stages

During the past couple of weeks I have been following the CONCACAF Champions League knockout stages.  I must admit that the last-16 were largely a bit of a bore with huge differences in the quality between the teams, except for the fact that Toronto FC defeated a poor Leon, the 2020 Guardianes champions. 

Perhaps this would be the year for an MLS teams to take the title (since the creation of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2008, Mexican teams have won every time): of the eight quarterfinal sides, five were MLS teams (Portland Timbers, Toronto FC, Columbis Crew, Philadelphia Union and Atlanta United), while only three Mexican sides were represented (América, Cruz Azul and Monterrey). 

But it was not to be: after the quarterfinals, only one MLS team remains, namely Philadelphia, who defeated a surprisingly weak Atlanta United. 

In general, the biggest surprise of the quarterfinals was, in my view, how weak the MLS sides appeared when faced with quality Mexican opposition. 

Toronto FC, whom I would have rated better after eliminating Leon, lost 1-3 at home, but in the return match in Mexico City, looked as a side that had already given up against a Cruz Azul side that barely needed to make an effort to win 1-0 in a very boring match. Columbus Crew was a bit better against Monterrey, and gained a 2-2 draw at home as the Mexicans did not concentrate at the end of the match; but back in Nuevo León there was little doubt of the Rayados' better quality as they won 3-1 against a Columbus side that also looked that they had given up beforehand.

Portland Timbers were aided by dreadful refereeing at home against América with an extra time penalty to make it 1-1. In Mexico City, Portland Timbers at least fought for their chance in what was the best of the four second-leg matches. But America was concentrated and played offensively in a match they won 3-1 (and don't mind another round of dreadful refereeing assisted by VAR!).

After the quarterfinals the semifinals (that will take place in August) look as such:

• Monterrey-Cruz Azul
• América-Philadelphia Union

Of course Philadelphia has a chance of making it to the final, and taking the title, but odds are probably on an all-Mexican final, where América-Cruz Azul would be a modern classic between the two rivals from Mexico City.

Referee defender

Yesterday I was watching a top match in the Mexican League between Cruz Azul and Toluca. It was an excellent match won by Cruz Azul 3-2 (some excellent goals, specially Cruz Azul's third by Guillermo Matias Fernandez), but the main reason for writing about it was one of the most curious situations I have seen in a football match: the referee saved a goal for Cruz Azul at the score 2-0, when he got in the way for a shot into a completely open goal. You can see it here: 

In the end it had no impact on the result, and after the initial complaints, it seemed most players took the strange incident with humour. The referee´s running may be a bit strange, but it is hard to see that he is much to blame for a very strange situation.

Cruzazulada!

The Mexican Guardianes Apertura tournament is entering its final phase. In the two-legged semifinals the favourites for Cruz Azul were to face the Pumas of UNAM; I watched the first match, which Cruz Azul comfortably won 4-0, and thus had one leg in the final and nearer the title that they have been craving for 23 years.

But I then heard that in the second leg Cruz Azul had messed it up and lost 4-0, which due to the league positions, put Pumas in the final!  This is a truly astonishing result, and the jokes about Cruz Azul never seem to end. This seems to go beyond the curse that some say Cruz Azul suffers, and in Mexico people are talking about a "cruzazulada", as an adjective to describe being close to victory, but then messing it up horribly.

The Pumas will face Leon in the two-legged final!

Breaking the curse for Cruz Azul?

Tonight I watched Cruz Azul defeating Santos Laguna 2-0 on a rainy night in Mexico City. Cruz Azul played well, deserved the victory, and this was their first match in a season in which many experts consider them as favourites to take the Mexican title. Cruz Azul is the fourth most winning club in the Mexican league, but their last title was in 1997, why some say they are under a curse. They were leading the previous Clausura season which was cancelled due to the Corona virus, but that is also why they are considered to be in the best position to take the title. They surely have a strong and experienced side.
Cruz Azul has thus taken a first step, but it is worth noting that their star striker, Jonathan Rodriguez, received a red card in this first match.
To break the curse will still require a lot of work!