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Liga MX: Atlas battle but fall short against Monarcas

By Luis Ramos

MORELIA, MEXICO - MARCH 02: Juan Vigon (L) of Atlas and Rodrigo Millar (R) of Morelia fight for the ball during the 10th round match between Monarcas and Atlas as part of the Torneo Clausura 2018 Liga MX at Morelos Stadium on March 02, 2018 in Morelia, Mexico. (Photo by Carlos Cuin/Jam Media/Getty Images)
MORELIA, MEXICO - MARCH 02: Juan Vigon (L) of Atlas and Rodrigo Millar (R) of Morelia fight for the ball during the 10th round match between Monarcas and Atlas as part of the Torneo Clausura 2018 Liga MX at Morelos Stadium on March 02, 2018 in Morelia, Mexico. (Photo by Carlos Cuin/Jam Media/Getty Images) /
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Atlas remain winless in Liga MX and still can’t manage to score a goal in five games, as they lose 1-0 to Monarcas.

On Friday night, playing in front of their home crowd in Jalisco, Atlas were hoping to finally put an end to the scoreless and winless streak they’d been carrying since the beginning of the Liga MX Apertura. A tough Monarcas team that hasn’t lost in the past four games was in their way, though.

It didn’t take long for Monarcas to take the lead. In the 9th minute, they displayed perfectly executed passes while moving at a quick pace to take the 1-0 lead over Atlas.

After conceding the first goal so early in the game, Atlas started hitting on all cylinders; trying to find a way to score their first goal of the season while tying up the game in the process. Many shots and misses being exchanged between both teams, but at the end Monarcas were able to hold off the fiery Atlas attack and maintain their 1-0 victory.

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Atlas dominated the game on the stat sheet, but the thing that counts is scoring goals. They’ve failed in that important category. In this game, there were many missed opportunities by Atlas but missed opportunities weren’t the only thing in the Zorros’ way. A spectacular display by Monarcas Goalkeeper Sebastian Sosa was key for Morealia, as he did everything in his power to deny Atlas their first goal of the season.  To give you a picture of how great his performance was, Atlas managed to have 26 shots and 8 being on target and still could not get the ball to the back of the net.

A look at how Atlas outperformed Monarcas on the stat sheet:

Shots: Atlas 26 to Monarcas 4

Shots on Target: Atlas 8 to Monarcas 3

Possession: 62% to 38%

Passes: 495 to 312

At this point, after not being able to score in 5 games, it could easily start becoming a mental problem for Atlas. Individual players start to think that something is wrong with their game or form, and might even become superstitious about why they haven’t had success scoring this tournament.

The bright side for Atlas is that despite being last in the table, only 3 points separates them from going from 18th to 10th in the table. We are heading into Jornada 6, meaning Atlas have 12 games left to make up some ground if they want to get out of the bottom and stay away from being part of the relegation talk.

Monarcas Morelia, on the other hand, continue to surprise in the tournament and continue winning games. After Friday’s night victory, Monarcas now find themselves sitting in 7th place in the table with 10 points. That’s good enough for a 4-way tie with America, Toluca, and Pumas. If Monarcas keep their winning form and play as disciplined as they have this tournament, don’t be surprised if they become a surprise team in the playoffs and make a deep run like Santos did last tournament.

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