Match preview: Santos Laguna vs. Mazatlán FC

Game: Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. vs. Mazatlán Fútbol Club

Date: Sunday, November 8th

Time: 8:06 p.m. Eastern, 7:06 p.m. Central, 5:06 p.m. Pacific, 1:06 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Corona TSM (Torreón, Coah.)

Referees: REF: César Arturo Ramos Palazuelos, AR1: Mario Jesús López Carrillo, AR2: Alejandro Ayala Valderrama, 4TH: Juan Andres Esquivel Gonzalez, VAR: Carlos Ayala Cuéllar, AVAR: José Alfredo Peñaloza Soto

Television: United States - FOX Deportes; Mexico - FOX Sports 2; Belize - FOX Sports 2; Costa Rica - FOX Sports 2; Dominican Republic - FOX Sports 2; El Salvador - FOX Sports 2; Guatemala - FOX Sports 2; Honduras - FOX Sports 2; Nicaragua - FOX Sports 2; Panama - FOX Sports 2; Venezuela - FOX Sports 2

Streaming: fuboTV (Free trial + monthly subscription), FOX Sports GO, Vidgo (Free trial + monthly subscription)

All-time record: This will be the first time that Santos Laguna has faced off against Mazatlán, however they did face their predecessors Monarcas Morelia a number of times. Monarcas held the slight edge all time with 22 wins to Santos’ 21, and the clubs had 17 draws between them. The only time the clubs met outside of Liga MX play was in the 2003-2004 Interliga when Monarcas won 3-2 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Photo by Cesar Gomez/Jam Media/Getty Images

Santos Laguna (6W 4D 6L) can climb as high as seventh with a win over Mazatlán FC (4W 4D 8L), who were mathematically eliminated from the repechaje with FC Juárez’ (4W 7D 6L) draw against América (9W 5D 3L) 1-1 draw.

Santos has been on fire in their last six outings, winning four while getting one draw and one loss. In their last match, they lost to León (12W 3D 1L) 2-1 at the Nou Camp in Guanajuato. They’ve not only re-inserted themselves into the repechaje but have risen to be within striking distance of one of the top four teams in it.

Santos’ offense has come alive during the stretch, scoring ten while giving up just five. Julio Furch scored his first goal during the run of play since February in the match against León while Gael Sandoval has come into his own over the past few games as well, scoring three goals in Santos’ last six games.

Photo by Leopoldo Smith/Getty Images

Mazatlán may be playing for pride (and jobs next season) at this point, but they are dangerous nonetheless. In their last match out they blew out Atlético San Luis (3W 2D 12L) 5-0 in San Luis Potosí, completing the scoring before the end of the first half. Camilo Sanvezzo and Fernando Aristeguieta combined for four of the five goals in the match and together have 12 of their 24 goals on the season.

The dig against Mazatlán however is their defense. They’ve given up 27 goals on the season, and only San Luis has given up more with 34 heading into the week. While Santos’ offense won’t be the most potent they’ve faced, Mazatlán certainly can’t afford to let them score at will.

Mazatlán will be looking to put on a brave face and play spoiler, but Santos has an opportunity to solidify their position in the repechaje and having a home field advantage has served them well. Guillermo Almada will have his team primed and look to build momentum heading into the postseason.