Posted by

Aaron Nielsen ,

August 25, 2014 Email

Aaron Nielsen



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@ENBSports

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For me, it is difficult to think of a personal interest that is larger than World Soccer. Billions of dollars, a regular audience of millions, professional players in the hundreds of thousands and if you include all pro and semi-pro games during the busy season, close to one thousand games a weekend. Due to this, soccer is mostly provincial with fans’ largest interest is often their local club, then the league their club plays in and then the headline stories from around the world. So it's natural, especially if your team is successful domestically, to assume that it will have similar success especially against a club you don't follow and are unaware of. The MLS/Liga MX relationship is very much like this with teams in the league playing in the CONCACAF Championship. Despite the natural rivalry between Mexico and United States in soccer, not many MLS fans have a deep knowledge of Liga MX. Statistically I have been following the Mexican top flight since 2003, maintaining data on every player in the league as I do with MLS, American lower leagues and college soccer. Liga MX operates as a far more traditional league than MLS, with relegation/promotion and a free market transfer market. Internationally it is regarded as a second tier quality domestic league, similar to Argentina and Brazil in South America or compared to Greece and Turkey in Europe. In Mexico, clubs are not afraid to buy players domestically and abroad, but also develop a large amount of players locally with close to 80% of the players in the league from Mexico compared to the 52% local based players in the MLS. Mexican clubs have also established a strong relationship with clubs in South America and many players use it as a stepping stone to a potential career in Europe. Supporting this, I mentioned in my previous Liga MX based article, I feel is the biggest difference between MLS and Liga MX, especially after the American clubs fell to the Mexican clubs in the Quarter Finals of the 2013-2014 Champions League tournament. Further proof of this took place over the current transfer market where Liga MX clubs sold close to $50 US Million in players. This included Ecuadorian Ener Valencia for $15 Million and Jefferson Montero for $5.5 million to Premier League clubs. Also Raul Jimenez, a local prospect for $11 Million to La Liga, and Argentinian Jose Basanta for $3.5 Million to Serie A. These moves put the much hyped recent MLS sale of DeAndre Yedlin from Seattle to Tottenham Hotpsurs in perspective. Clubs have also done significant transfers within the league, with Oribe Peralta moving from Santos Laguna to America CF for close to $4 Million. This underscores a potential weakness of Major League Soccer’s single entity structure. Like any business of speculation, soccer transfers are done based on history and perceived value. For example, if America CF was going to sell Peralta to Europe in the short-term, they would expect a minimum of $4 million - the amount they paid for his services. Meanwhile, in MLS a player such as Bobby Boswell was released by Houston and picked up essentially on a free by DC United. Even though he has had a major influence on DC's and the Dynamo outcomes this year, his value on the soccer market is undefined, but in real money terms or transfer precedent, is essentially $0. This restricts the player’s movement, the amount the league can get for him, and the player’s earning potential. Under these circumstances, it's no wonder Camillo left Vancouver to Queretaro in the fashion he did. On the Gaffer & Hooligan podcast, one of the goals Kamal and I have is to talk about soccer in the CONCACAF region. This primarily has been spearheaded by Kamal who has put the effort of following soccer in Central American and the Caribbean. His thoughts are if MLS is going to grow into a true Major league, a stronger relationship with these countries is important. For me and my work, historically I only followed soccer in Mexico because potentially a player like Valencia can join a Premier League club and it would be important for me to know about the player's past. While I more closely follow MLS and the Canadian National Team, I realize the importance of understanding soccer in our region. For example, the Canadian Men's National Team have a number of exciting prospects, although none would compare to Costa Rican Joel Campbell, who I ranked as the top player in Greece last year. It looks like he's going to be part of the Arsenal squad this season, so for supporters, the media and the CSA, assuming Canada isn't anything but an underdog against Costa Rica is naïve, and questions or concerns of preparation towards such an opponent should be raised. I have put together a short preview below, similar to my other materials on RNO, and I thought I would give a my take on Liga MX. Especially America CF, Cruz Azul, Pachuca and Leon, who will be participating in the current 2014-2015CONCACAF Champions League, but will not play an MLS Club until they reach the knockout stages. Liga MX is split into two leagues: the Apertura and Clausura, which is divided by the January transfer window. Historically, because of this and no salary cap restrictions, Mexican clubs have added additional quality players if they reach the CCL knockout stage, again showing the problems between the MLS structure against the traditional soccer structure. America CF are probably the most famous soccer club in the CONCACAF region. The club represents Mexico City and is the best supported club with an average crowd of 43,370 reported last season playing in the famous Estadio Azteca. They have also won the CONCACAF Champions league five times, although never under the current structure, with their last win in 2006. America made the playoffs in both tournaments last season, losing the final of the 2013 Apetura and the first round of the 2014 Clasura and had an overall league record of 18-8-8.



Going into this season the club sold Raul Jimenez to Atletico Madrid, and currently is/was among the league’s top goalscorer. They also brought in, as mentioned, Oribe Peralta who scored 17 goals and had 10 assists with Santos Laguna last league season. They will partner up with veteran Luis Gabriel Rey, where the Colombian international has scored almost 150 career goals in Liga MX. Most of the offense last year was created by midfielder Rubens Sambueza, where over the last complete league season he had 7 goals and 10 assists, although was also red carded three times. America is an experienced team with a number of proven quality players including keeper Mosies Munoz, defenders Pablo Aguilar, Juan Valenzuela, Paul Aguilar and new signing Argentinan Paolo Goltz, who is also the team captain.



Cruz Azul was the most dominant team in Mexico last season finishing with a 19-8-7 league record and winning the 2013-2014 CONCACAF Champions League title, despite losing in the first round of playoffs for both season tournaments. Argentinean Mariano Pavone played a key role winning the CCL Golden Ball award and the striker will be playing ahead of two prospects in Liga MX football: Mexican Marco Fabian and Ecuadorian Joao Rojas, both players played in the 2014 World Cup and have been on the radar of large European clubs. The club also includes former Premier League player Mauro Formica who played with Blackburn Rovers, veteran Christian Gomez, former Montreal Impact player Hernan Bernardello as well as former Philadelphia Union player Michael Farfan, who was sold to Cruz Azul by MLS.



Pachuca had only a combined league record of 10-11-13, but qualified for the CCL by making the Clausura playoff final. They are another Mexican club with a strong reputation, including four CCL titles with the last in 2010. Pachuca are not perceived as a strong club in Liga MX this season, although a 4-1 win in their opening CCL game this season makes them a large favorite to advance. The club has a couple of interesting players including striker Ariel Nahuelpan, someone who has played with multiple clubs in South America and the type of player MLS clubs should look at. They also have an exciting young Mexican midfield which includes Jorge Hernandez, Diego de Buen, Rodolfo Pizarro and new signing Rodirgo Salinas. The club is also coached by Enrique Meza who has managed a number of clubs including the Mexican national team.



Leon had a very interesting 2013-2014 despite having an overall league record of 14-11-9. The club won both playoffs becoming double champion and first back-to-back champion since UNAM in 2004. This also makes you question the playoffs in terms of deciding a champion, issues both MLS and Liga MX accept because of the revenue generated from a Cup Final. Leon were one of the biggest spenders in Liga MX this summer, however the biggest story was Rafeal Marquez leaving the club to join Verona in Italian Serie A. They brought in Brazilian Derley to replace Marquez and also bought an exciting prospect from South America in Ecuadorian Marcos Caicedo.



The 22 year old Caicedo played with Emelec where he won the Ecuadorian Championship alongside Enner Valencia, and is known for being in the right position and the right time. This has given him a great goals per minute ratio despite being a sub most of his young career. Caicedo will team up with Liga MX veterens Mauro Boselli, Miguel Sabah and Argentinian Martin Bravo, and these three combined for a total of 30 league goals last season. Leon appear to me as one of the more offensive in Liga MX, which is something their potential MLS club opposition in the Champions League has to be aware of.



Outside of the CCL participants Monterrey look to be a strong club as well as UANL Tigres. Monterrey brought in Rodrigo Rojas from Chile and still have Neri Cardozo, Dorlan Pabon, Cesar Delgado and of course Humberto Suazo, who continues to score throughout his career with 12 goals in 19 league games last season. Meanwhile, UNAL Tigres have brought in American Herculez Gomez, Marco Ruben who was playing at Dynamo Kyiv, and Ecudorian Joffre Guerron who was one of the top players in the China Super League, but they have the ongoing contract issue with prospect Alan Pulido. Other prospects to watch are Isaac Brizuela at Toluca and Carlos Quintero at Santos Laguna. Finally, despite stories of financial issues, Queretaro are still in Liga MX and Camilo has already scored two goals this season.



Kamal Hylton and I plan to dedicate an episode of the Gaffer and Hooligan podcast to Liga MX, including an interview with an expert of the league to give some additional information. Specifically, to talk about the relationship now and in the future between Liga MX and MLS. For me, America CF look to be heavy CONCACAF Champions League favorites and Cruz Azul, Pachuca, and Leon all potential semi-finalists. While I don't see beating teams from Liga MX an insurmountable achievement, and budget wise the leagues are very close with Toronto FC outspending all clubs in both leagues. However, this off-season beating Liga MX to the punch on potential game changing recruits will certainly help the chances of MLS clubs.