Mexican Liguilla Final, Santos Laguna Vs. Monterrey: Pre-Match Primer

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

Monterrey Lineup (3-5-2/5-3-2): Orozco / Basanta, Davino, Mier / Paredes, Martinez, Morales, Ayovi, Osorio / de Nigris, Suazo

Monterrey’s lineup could be argued as either a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 formation, but it might end up being slightly unbalanced, and therefore, neither in practice. Left back/midfielder William Paredes is more likely to bomb forward and take risks than right back Ricardo Osorio, although he is competent going forward himself. Suazo is likely to drift around a bit to find the ball and set up his teammates while de Nigris is more of a traditional center forward. Hector Morales is listed as a defensive midfielder, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see him actually play as a defender with Paredes going into the midfield. This may or may not indicate a different formation.

The most notable omission from Santos’s lineup is playmaker Daniel Ludueña, but after he was benched for both of the matches against America, this is hardly a surprise. Personally, I would prefer to see him in the lineup instead of Jose Maria Cardenas. While Cardenas is a very good player, Ludueña is a special, though inconsistent, talent that can break a game wide open with his creative passing. He seems to have some great chemistry with Cristian Benitez, so his omission in three consecutive games is slightly puzzling to me. Felipe Baloy, arguably the best central defender in Mexico, is out for this match on suspension so Rafael Figeroa has taken his place. Because of this, there will be a lot of pressure on Juan Rodriguez, whose fitness coming into this match is questionable, to protect the Santos back line. One leading site lists Santos’s lineup as a 5-3-2 with Carlos Morales at right back and Jorge Ivan Estrada playing as one of three central defenders, but I vehemently disagree based on the way Santos have played throughout the year.

The match kicks off at 9 pm ET on Telefutura and we’ll have live coverage throughout.