To reach the Mexican soccer final, at Monterey and America only needs the victory this weekend against the Atlético San Luis and Cruz Azul, respectively, in the second leg of the semifinals of the Apertura 2024 tournament of the MX League.
With ties in the rematches, Atlético San Luis will reach its first final while Cruz Azul will continue its path for the title in a championship in which it has had a spectacular performance.
David against another Goliath
The first semi-final will take place on Saturday at the BBVA stadium starting at 8:00 p.m.
As a local, the Monterey will try to recover from the 2-1 defeat suffered on Wednesday at the Alfonso Lastras stadium.
“Losing is never good,” accepted the Argentine Martin Demicheliscoach of Monterrey’s ‘Rayados’, but stressed that adversity is not complex for his team: “when you lose by the slightest difference, it is the best result; the series is totally open.”
Doménec Torrent, Spanish coach of San Luis, highlighted that his modest team has eliminated the Tigres in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals they have Monterrey, two of the most ostentatious rosters in Aztec football, in check.
“We don’t have the names of other teams, but I’m proud of how my team plays,” Torrent commented and warned that on Saturday “We’re going to go out and win.”
If Monterrey achieves an aggregate tie, they will advance to the final due to their best position in the regular phase: they were fifth while Atlético finished sixth.
Taste of revenge
The second finalist will leave the stadium on Sunday Sports City where La Maquina del Cruz Azul will receive the Águilas del América from 7:00 p.m.
On Thursday in the same scenario, the first leg was tied 0-0. If equality in the overall score persisted, the pass would go to Cruz Azul because they were leaders in the regular phase and América finished eighth.
With a cautious game in the first leg, the Águilas were able to control La Maquina’s offense, but on Sunday they will have to take more risks and overcome the precedent of the regular phase: a 4-1 defeat.
“Playing with Cruz Azul is always complicated because their midfield construction is very strong,” acknowledged the Brazilian. André Jardinecoach of America.
Regarding the second leg, with the obligation to win, he admitted that “we know the degree of anxiety that the second game will bring us, but we have the capacity to show variations.”
For his part, Martín Anselmi, Argentine technical director of Cruz Azul, criticized América’s position of playing by betting on error and guaranteed that on Sunday his team will remain faithful to its principles.
“The second leg is going to be tough, but we are going to go out and play in the opponent’s field, that is the essence of Cruz Azul,” said Anselmi.
For Anselimi and Cruz Azul, this semifinal is a revenge since in the previous tournament they lost the final against América de Jardine.
Monterrey vs. Atlético de San Luis: Time and where to watch the second leg LIVE
- Monterrey vs. Atlético San Luis at 8:00 pm at the BBVA Stadium, you can watch LIVE on Channel 5 and TUDN.
With information from AFP
