The Puebla Argentine coach Nicolás Larcamón tied 1-1 Friday with the champion Atlas and was confirmed as leader of the Closing tournament 2022 of Mexican soccer, at the end of the fifth day on Monday. In added time, Guillermo Martínez made one of the most elegant plays of the championship so far, a bicycle kick after a throw-in, to tie the game, after Colombian Julián Quiñones had put Atlas ahead. With three wins, two draws and 11 points, Puebla leads the standings with the same numbers as Atlas, which it leads by goal difference; they take a point advantage over Pachuca, Cruz Azul and Tigres UANL.
This Monday Pachuca tied 2-2 with Queretaro with goals from Argentine Nicolás Ibáñez and Mexican Luis Chávez, while Ecuadorian José Angulo and Ángel Sepúlveda scored for the away team. With his goal, Ibáñez reached the Brazilian Rogério in the top scorers, both with four goals.
In the Azteca stadium, his home, the Blue Cross let go of an advantage gained with a penalty goal from Paraguayan Juan Escibar and fell 1-2 against Necaxa, at the premiere of coach Jaime Lozano. After the Argentinean Milton Giménez equalized the duel in the 84th minute, the Uruguayan Rodrigo Aguirre made a left-footed goal in the last play of the game and gave the victory to the Rayos, who rose to tenth place and frustrated the possibility that The Blues of Peruvian coach Juan Reynoso will jump to the lead. Tuzos and celestial add 10 points, the same as tigerswhich on Saturday surpassed by 1-3 to Chivas de Guadalajarawith goals from the Argentine Guido Pizarro, the French André Pierre Gignac and the Paraguayan Carlos González.
In addition to the tie Puebla-Atlas, on Friday the Mazatlan of the Spanish strategist Beñat San José, defeated Tijuana 2-0with goals from Colombian Nicolás Benedetti and Roberto Meraz.
In one of the most anticipated duels of the weekend, the Paraguayan Bruno Valdez changed from evil to hero and hit the America of the Argentine coach Santiago Solari a 2-3 win at the house of Santos Laguna. Valdez made an own goal with which Santos went ahead, but shortly after the Chilean Diego Valdés converted a header for 1-1; Santos once again took the lead with a goal from the Brazilian Matheus Doria and the Eagles regained equality with a score from Salvador Reyes. Bruno Valdez accurately scored a penalty and finished off the victory, the first for Solari’s azulcremas, who rose to thirteenth place.
In other results, on Saturday Toluca defeated San Luis 0-1 with a goal from the Brazilian Matheus Doria and this Sunday Pumas won 2-1 over León. The Monterrey-Juárez FC match was postponed to March 8.
The tournament will continue from Friday to Sunday with the matches Puebla-Monterrey, Juárez-Santos Laguna, and Tijuana-Necaxa, on Friday; Querétaro-Mazatlán, Tigres UANL-San Luis and León-Guadalajara, on Saturday, and América-Pachuca, Toluca-Cruz Azul and Atlas-Pumas UNAM, on Sunday.
