Matchday 3 offers Liga MX fans first glance at new-look Aguilas

This weekend’s slate of Liga MX games provides fans with a match pitting two of the three perfect teams.

The best contest would seem to be Saturday night’s game in Monterrey where the Rayados will host León, but more attention is likely to focus on Estadio Azteca where the Aguilas of América will begin life without the league’s best goalie, Agustín Marchesín. “Marche” is en route to Portugal after he and Aguilas midfielder Mateus Uribe negotiated deals to join FC Porto.

Oscar Jiménez was the back-up No. 2 goalie for the Aguilas at last week’s León match, but we’ll have to wait and see what coach Miguel Herrera decides to do in net. Jiménez, 30, debuted with the Indios of Cd. Juárez in 2008 and played with Lobos BUAP in Ascenso MX (2011-2013) and the Jaguares of Chiapas (2013-2016). Then-coach Ricardo La Volpe brought Jiménez to América in the summer of 2016.

In Guadalajara, Atlas welcomes Santos in a match-up of two teams with 6 points. Atlas has won both of its games by the slimmest margin (1-0), while Santos won its first two games by the same 3-0 scoreline.

In Monterrey, the winless Rayados need to get a move on if they intend to be title contenders, but defending regular-season champs León are in town. This is virtually a must-win game for Monterrey, while an Esmeraldas win could ruin the season for the Rayados and their fans. This game features the two teams with the most foreign players on their rosters.

Here is a list of this weekend’s games. Each team’s points and goal differential is noted in parentheses. Last week’s results are provided with the home team listed first.

Friday night

Guadalajara (3 points, -1) at Puebla (1 point, -2)

Last week:

Guadalajara 2, Tigres 0

Puebla had a bye

Santos (6 points, +6) at Atlas (6 points, +2)

Santos 3, Cd. Juárez 0

Morelia 0, Atlas 1

Saturday

Cruz Azul (2 points, 0) at Querétaro (4 points, +2)

Cruz Azul 1, Toluca 1

Tijuana 1, Querétaro 1

Tijuana (4 points, +2) at Aguilas (4 points, +2)

Tijuana 1, Querétaro 1

León 0, América 0

Morelia (0 points, -3) at Pachuca (1 point, -2)

Morelia 0, Atlas 1

Veracruz 3, Pachuca 3

León (4 points, +2) at Monterrey (0 points, -3)

León o, América 0

Veracruz (1 point, 0) at Necaxa (1 point, -2)

Sunday

Tigres (3 points, 0) at Pumas (6 points, +4)