Pachuca and Toluca will play an unprecedented final in Liga MX

Pachuca and Toluca did what not many believed: they eliminated the two teams that finished first and second in the regular phase. The scarlet team, with the largest investment in a single tournament in its history (US12.6 million), managed to eliminate America with a global score of 3-2, which was one of the main candidates to aspire to the main title of Mexican soccer.

Nacho Ambriz went from the harsh criticism in his beginnings with the team to forming a competitive squad that is now in the grand final. It should be noted that of the five most recent Liga MX finals, Ignacio is the only Mexican who has been present, first in 2020 with León, where he managed to win the title, and now with Toluca he seeks to break a 12-year drought in the first division. .

The Tuzos came from less to more in the championship and made the Hidalgo stadium a real fortress. Guillermo Almada once again demonstrated his quality as a strategist and, with just an investment of 550 thousand dollars in signings to face the 2022 Apertura, they passed over Rayados, who reached the league as the best defensive and the most valuable team in the division (US89.2 million), with an aggregate score of 6-2 after winning both semifinal matches.

In Pachuca it stands out that they have five of the 15 most valuable players in the entire MX League and four of them are trained in the Hidalgo institution. Érick Sánchez, Luis Chávez, Kevin Álvarez and Víctor Guzmán stand out among the best rated in the division along with Nicolás Ibáñez, who was signed by the Tuzos in 2021 and was just the 2022 Apertura scoring champion.

Rayados was annulled in its own stadium

Monterrey reached the semi-final second leg aiming to win by three goals or more to reach the grand final. From the more offensive bet proposed by Víctor Manuel Vucetich, it was noted that they were looking for the result, unfortunately they found themselves with a solid block from Pachuca, who protected the extensive advantage they had achieved in the first leg.

The minutes passed and, despite the fact that the high pressure and intensity of Rayados managed to bring them closer to the rival goal, the attack options were not as dangerous as expected, so desperation began to take its toll on the local team, which ended without annotations in his favor in the Steel Giant.

The team led by Guillermo Almada did not withdraw their lines and tried to cut off the rival advances from the midfield, a situation that led them to handle the process of the match for several moments, mainly in the second half where fatigue was already present in the box. local.

In the end, Monterrey made up to 24 shots but only 11 went on goal, the same ones that Óscar Ustari was in charge of stopping to keep his goal to zero for the first time so far in the league.

With the match practically resolved in the final minutes, a drop from Pachuca ended in a penalty in their favor after a foul on Avilés Hurtado. The Colombian was in charge of exchanging the maximum penalty for a goal and his celebration detonated the anger of the Monterrey fans, who began to throw things at him from the stands, however it would not end there, as the players also engaged in jostling due to the actions of the attacker of the Tuzos, so seconds later, Enrique Santander ended the match.

deportes@eleconomista.mx