LigaMX shows up and disappoints at the World Cup
As the end of the World Cup approaches and the semi-finals underway, the last four remaining teams are stacked with talent from top European clubs and that once again proves why European soccer is on a much higher level than any league in the Americas region including LigaMX.
Despite being ranked the “20th best soccer league in the world per IFFHS”, LigaMX managed to send out an underwhelming 22 players to this years World Cup in Russia. One of those players was coming from a Primera A AscensoMX league team.
For a league that has the reputation of being seen as one of the top leagues in the Americas region and top CONCACAF league with historic franchises like club America, Chivas, Cruz Azul and UNAM you would expect to see a handful of talent coming out of this league. Unfortunately, that is not the case here of the 18 teams in the LigaMX only 11 teams were being represented.
Quality over Quantity….. Right?
The impact made by the 22 players was minimal. Granted, the group of the 22 men consisted of four goalies who played 0 minutes, seven defenders that played a combined 1565 minutes, nine midfielders with a combined 975 minutes, and two strikers that played only 14 minutes. The total minutes played combined by all 22 players was a shockingly low 2,384 minutes played.
That consisted of 21 shots attempted and one goal scored. That one lonely goal was an important goal for Keisuke Honda and Japan as it would level the game vs Senegal, which would end in a tie and help Japan secure the one point that would help them move on to the Round of 16. Other than that, there wasn’t much noise at all from LigaMX players.
There probably would’ve been at least one or two more goals added to that total but Mateus Uribe couldn’t convert successfully on the penalty shot vs England and Jordan Pickford would go on to make a ridiculous save on Uribes’ long range shot in that same match.
At the end of the day LigaMX is way to far behind on the competitive level when it comes to going up against the European clubs but that doesn’t stop it from being a growing, competitive league. Despite the minimal impact it made in this years’ World Cup, millions of fans still tune in and follow the LigaMX action because it still is the top league in the Americas even though MLS is creeping right behind them.
When it is all said and done, if they want better futbol in Mexico then they need to do a better job in bringing in talent and strengthening up their developments in the youth academies to find the next big star.