Liga MX Review: Tigres Overtake Toluca to Claim 2nd Place

Tuesday 5th November 2024

León 0-0 Mazatlán
Santos Laguna 0-2 Chivas
Pumas 2-0 Querétaro

León kept their playoff hopes alive despite a goalless draw against Mazatlán. The Guanajuato side extended their unbeaten run to seven games since mid-September but were agonisingly close to claiming all three points. Pushing for a crucial win that would have tightened the race with Atlas ahead of the final match, León missed two penalties, with both Jhonder Cádiz and Stiven Mendoza unable to convert.

Chivas continues its own fight to qualify within the top six after a comfortable win against Santos. Cade Cowell netted his fifth of the season before 18-year-old Jonathan Padilla scored his second to leave Los Rojiblancos with a difficult task at the weekend when they travel to San Luís.

Pumas jumped up into fourth with a win over the league's bottom side Querétaro as José Caicedo and Piero Quispe put the side on track for three points, but they were gifted an advantage when Omar Mendoza received two yellow cards within the space of 120 seconds,

Wednesday 6th November 2024

Club América 2-1 Pachuca
Tigres 2-1 Toluca
Necaxa 1-1 San Luís
Atlas 2-2 Cruz Azul
Juárez 1-1 Tijuana

Club América finally broke into the top six for the first time this season, edging past Los Tuzos in a hard-fought win at the Estadio Cuauhtémoc in Puebla. Arturo González initially put the visitors ahead, but the reigning champions responded with two quick goals to flip the match in their favour. América now sit above San Luís in sixth place on goal difference, though everything hangs in the balance with just one game left this weekend.

The week’s headline clash took place at the Estadio Universitario, where Tigres hosted Toluca in a high-stakes, top-of-the-table showdown. Billed as a possible Apertura final preview, the match delivered a thrilling glimpse of what could be on the horizon, with Los Tigres narrowly clinching victory. The win propels Tigres above Los Diablos Rojos into second place, though they remain eight points adrift of leaders Cruz Azul.

San Luís fell behind América earlier in the evening, missing their chance to reclaim sixth place after a draw against Necaxa. The visitors struck first with a goal from Juan Sanabria, but Diber Cambindo soon levelled the score, netting his fifth of the season to secure a point for Necaxa.

Cruz Azul has been a powerhouse throughout the Apertura, but a late equaliser from Atlas forced La Maquiná to drop points for just the third time this season. With one match remaining, Cruz Azul are set to head into the playoffs as the top seed, while Atlas now face a must-draw scenario against Necaxa to avoid an early and humiliating exit ahead of the playoff push.

The final match of the round saw a fierce northern clash, with the two clubs straddling the Mexico-US border going head-to-head. Tijuana now find themselves needing other results to go their way if they’re to sidestep the play-in round, as Juárez snatched a last-gasp equaliser in the 98th minute, courtesy of Ángel Zaldívar. Despite missing a penalty earlier, Los Bravos’ late goal secured them a valuable point, lifting them to 15th place, just above Pachuca.

Who impressed you the most in matchday 16? Let us know!