Tigres, still in chase for top playoff seed, visit gritty Lobos
The Tigres are one of the unstoppable teams in the Liga MX and easily one of the favorable teams in the tournament.
With four games remaining in the Clausura 2019, the Tigres are still in the race to secure the top seed for the playoffs. By now we know the Tigres are an unstoppable force, tough both at home and on the road. But this weekend, they’ll take on the plucky Lobos BUAP.
At the Estadio Universitario this past weekend, the Tigres captured their ninth win of the season by dominating the Pumas. Nahuel Guzmán recorded another shutout and all the offense they needed came from Julian Quiñones who scored a couple goals. The 3 points allowed the second-place Tigres to move 6 points clear of third place Monterrey with 29 points from 13 games.
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On the road, Ricardo Ferretti’s team has won four of seven games (going 4-2-1) but those wins were against lesser competition (Tijuana, Toluca, Veracruz and Atlas). The club’s only road loss came against America (a 3-0 wipeout).
On the other hand, Lobos BUAP always give it their best and they will not go down without a fight, something we all observed this past weekend when they pulled out a 1-0 win at Guadalajara. The win bumped the Lobos into 11th place with 17 points, only 4 points out of a playoff spot.
The Lobos will hope to carry some of that momentum into Sunday’s contest. With playoff hopes at stake, the Puebla-based Lobos are trying to become this season’s Cinderella team.
Prediction
The Tigres do not want to allow any opportunities to slip away as long as the top playoff seed remains up for grabs. Although the Tigres have scored more than 2 goals as the visiting team on only one occasion, the Lobos have allowed 11 goals in 7 home games, so we could see a high-scoring affair. There is also a possibility that Tigres striker Andre-Pierre Gignac gets back on the field after a lengthy injury layoff The Lobos have treated us to a roller coaster season thus far, so it is not out of the question that they could shock us with a victory over the Tigres. But I don’t see that happening.