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Morelia, the surprise team of the Liguilla so far, will look to continue their form against the favorite Monterrey. Monterrey was not only the best team in the regular season but they repeated their form in the Liguilla, with a great series against Atlas. Morelia meanwhile outperformed a good team in Toluca but were nowhere near matched the performance of a team like Monterrey.
Monterrey was heavily favored coming into the Liguilla. They proved to live to their expectations when they defeated Atlas twice. In the first leg in Guadalajara, they ran over them for the first 20 minutes and raced to a 2-0 lead. In Monterrey, the situation repeated itself, except that Monterrey scored four times in the first half and the game and series was essentially finished.
Morelia on the other hand went to Toluca and got a 1-0 lead that they then lost in the final minutes to fall 2-1. Toluca then took and early lead in Morelia and looked like they might have taken control of the series, but Morelia came back quickly to score twice and hold on for the win. The 2-1 score meant that Morelia went through with the 3-3 aggregate score because of their better record.
Morelia will have thier work cut out since even if they have surprised, their squad is the weakest of the teams still in the competition. Still everybody expects Monterrey to get thru and that could play to Morelia's advantage. After Atlas held on Monterrey's initial storming, they looked good enough to deserve a tie and Monterrey has been known to play down to their opponents.
It will not be an easy game for Monterrey, at least in the first leg. Morelia is a tough defensive team and knows their best opportunity is at home. That said, so far in the Liguilla, teams have been able to get results at home but have failed to repeat their performance away. In this situation, a repeat performance would spell doom for Morelia.
Date: Thursday, November 30
Time: 5:30 PM Pacific, 7:30 PM Central, 8:30 PM Eastern
Venue: Estadio Morelos, Morelos, Mexico
Television: Univision Deportes Network (US-Spanish), SKY Planeta Fútbol (Mexico), Azteca 7, Sky HD (Mexico)
Streaming: fuboTV (Free trial + monthly subscription)
Listings via LiveSoccerTV.com.