Copa MX Clausura 2019 Knockout Stages Announced

The group stage is over and the knockout stage fixtures have been announced for the Clausura 2019 Copa MX.

Per usual, 16 teams from the nine groups qualified for the knockout stages and were seeded based on group stage performance. The teams will play each other in one-legged fixtures until a new champion is crowned. The Round of 16 matches will be played on Tuesday, Feb. 26 and Wednesday, Feb. 27.

Here’s who will face who:

• Morelia, which won all four of its group stage games and finished with a perfect 12 points, will go head-to-head with Chelis’ Puebla.
• The highest-seeded Ascenso MX team, FC Juarez, will face Leon, who are red-hot in the league with four-straight wins.
• Bruno Marioni’s Pumas have done well since his appointment as manager and the capital club will face Chivas’ farm team, Zacatepec, in the Round of 16.
• Miguel Piojo Herrera and Club America will face Martin Palermo and Pachuca at the Estadio Azteca.
• Chivas will hope to keep their good form alive against reigning Ascenso MX champs Atletico San Luis.
• World football legend Diego Maradona and his Dorados de Sinaloa will go one-on-one with Atlas.
• Relegation table bottom feeders Veracruz will attempt to go all in on the Copa by first trying to beat Ascenso MX side Mineros de Zacatecas.
• Finally, Alebrijes de Oaxaca will try to topple Oscar Pareja’s Tijuana.

The biggest shock comes from reigning Copa MX champs Cruz Azul, who continued its string of recent poor performances and lost to Oaxaca in the final matchday, 1-0, enough for them to be eliminated from the competition after racking up just four points.

Caixinha and company have yet to impress this season and have seemingly fallen from the grace of the wonderous season the club enjoyed during the Apertura campaign before losing the Liga MX final to America. Cruz Azul have just three out of 11 possible wins in all competitions.

Queretaro, Necaxa and Lobos BUAP were the other first division sides that failed to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Another Clasico Nacional in the Copa is on the horizon and could take place as soon as the quarterfinals if America beat Pachuca and Chivas defeat San Luis.

Another interesting thing to note is the way the Copa seeded Pachuca and San Luis. Both clubs actually finished with the same number of points (6), goal difference (0), goals scored (5) and away goals scored (3).

The tournament had to go all the way to fifth tiebreaker, a Fair Play table, to decide their seeding.

Since San Luis got through the group stage with nine yellow cards while Pachuca recieved 11, San Luis finished higher on the Fair Play table and were thus seeded above Los Tuzos. If both teams would have had the same amount of cards shown, the tiebreaker would have had to have been decided by a random draw.

Who ya got winning it all? Which club are you missing the most from this bunch? Let us know in the comments below!

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