It is the moment of truth for Pachuca and Santos Laguna. Both squads will play their season this weekend in the playoffs. Los Tuzos come to this commitment as clear favorites, although almost anything can happen in Mexican soccer.
This is the most uneven duel of the entire play-off. On the one hand we have the current champion of the Liga MX, who was one point away from going directly to the league. On the other side are the Guerreros, a team that fell dramatically in the second half of the tournament and that qualified for this instance because Querétaro finished in last place in the table of quotients.
News about Pachuca
Jesús Martínez, owner of Grupo Pachuca, recently gave an interview to ESPN in which he assured that Diego Cocca’s profile was not ideal for the Mexican National Team. The manager indicated that he left the selection committee because they wanted to impose Rodrigo Ares de Parga on him and confessed that he spoke with Marcelo Bielsa for hours and that “Loco” was excited to take over the reins of Tri.
News about Santos Laguna
Santos Laguna is in the eye of the hurricane. The Grupo Orlegui team qualified for the playoffs after finishing 13th in the general table. The albiverdes aspire to the championship after obtaining only five victories in the season and conceding 37 goals against. The classification of the Guerreros to the playoffs has shown the mediocrity of the competition format of Mexican soccer.
Possible alignments of Pachuca and Santos Laguna
Pachuca (4-4-2): O. Ustari, J. Castillo, G. Cabral, E. Martinez, K. Alvarez, A. Hurtado, E. Sanchez, L. Chavez, R. Ibarra, R. De la Rosa and C. Arango.
Santos Laguna (4-4-2): G. Lajud, R. Lopez, F. Torres, M. Doria, O. Fields, J. Gonzalez, S. Marshal, L. Gonzalez, E. Rodriguez, J. Brunetta and H. Preciado.
