Mexican Liguilla Final, Santos Laguna Vs. Monterrey: Santos Take 3-2 Lead Into Second Leg

Santos will have an advantage going in to the return leg of the Mexican Liguilla final thanks to an own goal by Duilio Davino caused by a cross from substitute Jose Cardenas. Just before Cardenas was introduced in the 77th minute, it looked like both teams were growing content with a draw. Based on the fact that Santos lost after drawing in the home leg of the Bicentenario, they should probably know better than that, and their introduction of Cardenas indicated that they were going for the jugular. Ruben Omar Romano’s substitution proved to be a great one and his team have a lead as a result.

The man Cardenas entered for, right back Jorge Ivan Estrada, was probably the man of the match. He’s mine for sure, and he was also named man of the match by the game’s broadcaster, Telefutura. I’m surprised they did it right after full time instead of delaying showing their man of the match for four minutes. He scored the opener, assisted on Carlos Darwin Quintero’s goal, and did a great job defending all night. Neither of the Monterrey goals came from attacks down his flank and he outplayed veteran Ecuadorian international Walter Ayovi by a significant margin for the duration of the game.

Unsurprisingly, the final of the Mexican Ligulla has stayed wild with Monterrey equalizing in the 54th minute. Aldo de Nigris created the opportunity, beating his defender and getting into the penalty area. Santos keeper Osvaldo Sanchez did well to parry the ball away, seemingly preventing what would have been a very easy goal scoring opportunity with Humberto Suazo arriving into the box as well. However, Sanchez deflected the ball out towards Neri Cardozo who scored with a great driving finish from 15 yards out.

The goal could be a big confidence booster for Cardozo who had previously been quiet. Monterrey have depended on him in the midfield all season and can hardly afford to have him uninvolved in games. Monterrey look to be playing with a swagger since the goal and Santos will have to be careful not to concede again. They should probably think about a goal of their own, as well, since a draw will make them slight underdogs for the the return leg this weekend.

It took only 23 minutes for Santos Laguna to take the lead at home in the first leg of La Gran Final, and their goal came from an unlikely source. On a well orchestrated counter-attack, striker Cristian Benitez found Jorge Ivan Estrada with a through ball on the right side of the penalty area. Estrada picked up the ball and finished past Jonathan Orozco into the roof of the net for only his sixth goal in five full years with the club, giving Santos a 1-0 lead. It was a fantastic run by Estrada from his right back position and no one on Monterrey accounted for the extra body coming forward into the box. Walter Ayovi appeared to be the man responsible for tracking him and his run, but Ayovi did no such thing.

Benitez has had a very large influence early on in the game, even prior to his assist. Monterrey’s central defenders are playing a very deep line out of respect for the abilities of Benitez and his partner Carlos Darwin Quintero, but that deep line has allowed for him to have plenty of time and space on the ball when he drops closer to the midfield. Between the influence of Benitez and the general struggles of the partnership of Humberto Suazo and Aldo de Nigris, both in previous matches and early on in this match, Jose Manuel Vucetich will be considering significant tactical adjustments.

I try to be really thorough for you guys. Before posting up lineups with analysis, I made a point of checking more than one source for lineups. Both Medio Tiempo and ESPN listed the exact same lineups, which I posted here. Both sites were wrong. Jesus Eduardo Zavala is starting instead of Hector Morales, which makes sense. Zavala is a natural defensive midfielder, while Morales would have been out of position playing there. Santos is starting Francisco Torres in place of Juan Rodriguez, which also makes sense. Rodriguez was injured against Club America and I was surprised to see that he was fit enough to be included in the starting lineup. Apparently, he is not fit enough to start, and is not even on the bench for Santos. Additionally, Daniel Ludueña is starting in place of Jose Cardenas, which has made for an exciting start from Santos.

Also, those of you who are regular consumers of the Mexican Primera will be stunned (sarcasm) to learn that Telefutura started showing the game about three minutes after kickoff. This has been their policy as long as the sky has been blue, but I naively believed that they would start on time for “La Gran Final.” Thankfully, the second leg of the final will be shown on Telemundo, which starts matches on time in addition to having the delightful Andres Cantor of Geico commercial fame call their matches.

The lineups are out for both teams and are free of any kind of significant surprises. Ruben Omar Romano has opted to stick with his regular formation for his Santos side. Monterrey have used a few different formations under Jose Manuel Vucetich, but tonight’s setup has been used quite a bit recently. A three central defender setup with Aldo de Nigris and Humberto Suazo struggled a bit against Pumas, but Vucetich has elected to stay the course. Here are your lineups.

Santos Laguna Lineup (4-4-2 Diamond): Sanchez / Olvera, Figueroa, Laserda, Estrada / Rodriguez, Morales, Arce, Cardenas / Quintero, Benitez

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.