Mexican Liguilla Final: Santos Laguna Vs. Monterrey

For once in Mexico, pre-season predictions have come true. Two of the favorites, if not the two favorites, have played their way through the Liguilla to meet in the final. Santos Laguna, runners-up in the most recent tournament, the 2010 Bicentenario, and Monterrey, winners of the 2009 Apertura, meet in a two-legged home and away tie to decide the champion of the Mexican Primera Apertura 2010, starting tonight at Estadio Corona on Torreon.

When the two sides met at Estadio Corona in October, they played an extremely entertaining match, full of great scoring chances and some better saves from the goalkeepers. Monterrey won the match 2-1 despite a Cristian Benitez goal and the fact that they were outplayed for the majority of the game, thanks to some impeccable finishes by Humberto Suazo and Osvaldo Martinez, as well as some out-of-this-world goalkeeping by Jonathan Orozco. It looked like a possible preview of the final back then, and it has become exactly that, thanks to an unsurprising choke by the recent Buffalo Bills of the Mexican Primera, Cruz Azul.

Monterrey and Santos always looked like the better sides in their semi-final ties, though they made progress to the final hard on themselves. Monterrey didn’t secure certain safe passage to the final until the 88th minute of the second leg of their tie against Pumas when Suazo finally scored. Neri Cardozo added a second goal and Monterrey advanced on a 2-0 aggregate win. Santos played some entertaining football against America, but let their opponent get back into the game over and over again as the second leg ended 3-3, putting Santos through 5-4 on aggregate.

In their tie against Monterrey, Pumas spent most of their time in a 3-4-3/3-2-5 hybrid formation, depending on how ambitious the wing backs were feeling and who you’re asking. It worked well to stifle Monterrey’s attack, especially in the first leg when the visitors were completely ineffective. It will be interesting to see if Santos manager Ruben Omar Romano takes any serious lessons from Pumas’ success or if he sticks to his tried-and-true attacking 4-4-2 diamond setup.

Both teams will have serious squad selection decisions, with Santos’ focusing mostly on two players. Despite looking dangerous down the stretch in the regular season and against Jaguares, Daniel Ludueña did not start either leg of the tie against America, with Jose Cardenas being preferred. The other starting midfield places look to be set in stone with Juan Rodriguez, Fernando Arce and Carlos Morales. Monterrey’s issues are slightly different, as they possess a little bit more depth, but arguably less capability for instant magic. Recently, Victor Manuel Vucetich has opted for two strikers up front, Suazo and Aldo de Nigris. They were largely ineffective as a pair in the last two matches, so a change in formation and/or the introduction of Sergio Santana could be in the works.

The first leg starts tonight, Thursday, at 9 pm ET on Telefutura. Right before the match starts, we’ll have lineups and analysis of what the team selections might mean for the makeup of the game.