Liga MX Femenil recap: 2021 Apertura, Week 4

It was another wild week in Liga MX Femenil, as Tigres emerge from it as the only perfect team through four weeks. We’re starting to see teams come into their own a bit, and I’m excited to see where the teams are now evolve into who eventually makes the Liguilla. Yes it’s way early to make predictions, but teams like Santos, Puebla, Tijuana, and others are getting critical points now that will serve their ambitions well later on in the season.

Atlas 0, Tigres UANL 4: A shock result as Tigres demolish Atlas 4-0, getting a measure of revenge for the 2-1 loss in Week 2 of the last tournament. Stefany Mayor had a hat-trick, capitalizing on defensive miscommunication in the 14th, split the center backs in the 43rd, and converted a penalty kick in the 86th. María Sánchez scored the other goal for Tigres when she got to a free kick that hit the wall in the 32nd and slammed it into the top corner of the net. At the other end of the pitch, Ceci Santiago made several fantastic saves to get her second clean sheet of the season.

Cruz Azul 1, UNAM Pumas 1: A game that saw Pumas shake off their funk as they get a draw against cross-town rivals Cruz Azul at La Noria. Laura Herrera had Pumas first good chance in the 17th minute when she was played over the top and onside, but her shot went just wide. Cruz Azul also had a couple of chances of their own early on but they weren’t able to put anything away until the 35th minute when Claudia Cid got her head onto a set piece and looped it into the back of the net. Pumas kept battling though and in the 88th minute Natalia Valadez was able to take advantage of a Cruz Azul turnover and hit the equalizer.

Club Atlético de San Luis 1, Pachuca 1: Pachuca have to be disappointed in letting this one slip away while San Luis should be thrilled to have come back to salvage a tie. Liz Ángeles put Pachuca up in the 16th minute, knocking in a nice square ball in from Charlyn Corral. Corral had a good chance in the 33rd but Ivette Alvarado made a great leaping save to hold on to the shot. There was a scary moment going into the half as Andrea Balcázar went down on the pitch and was taken off on a cart under the league’s new concussion protocol. Pachuca hung on until the final moments of the game when Ana Karen López hit a hopeful shot that took a bounce and skipped over a diving Esthefanny Barreras to get the draw for the home side.

Necaxa 0, Santos Laguna 3: A dominant performance from Santos as Necaxa’s woes continue. Alexia Villanueva was able to capitalize on goalkeeper Muñoz bobbling the ball to give Santos the lead in the 20th minute. In the 51st Santos created a turnover and then broke down the field, and a nice give-and-go between Villanueva and Alexxandra Ramírez resulted in Ramírez’ first goal of the season. Then in the 83rd minute Cinthya Peraza got an insurance goal on a wonderful free kick from 20 yards out.

León 5, Mazatlán FC 0: A good win by a León side that needed a boost of confidence. They started out aggressive and it worked when Liliana Magaña was able to get to a rebound off of the crossbar and knock it into the net in the 16th minute. Then after some extended pressure Anisa Guajardo made a nice run and hit a golazo from inside the box in the 22nd minute and then ten minutes later, Dani Calderón hit a laser from about 20 yards out. And as if those weren’t nice enough, Paulina Gómez hit a worldie free kick deep into stoppage to send the León into the locker room up 4-0. In the second half, León had plenty of chances but it was a penalty kick from Marta Cox that was ruled an autogol on Mariana Zárraga that gave León their fifth goal of the afternoon. The first Panamanian player in Liga MX Femenil, Cox was mobbed by her teammates as she wiped tears away from her eyes.

América 1, Toluca 3: Another shock result as América lost to Toluca at home. América took the lead in the 76th minute on a Dani Espinosa shot from inside the box, but after that it all came unraveled. Mariel Román got onto the end of a Fernanda Sánchez pass to get the equalizer in the 82nd minute, and then Dani Flores was sent off for a tackle on Patricia Jardón. Then Jocelyn Orejel hit a ball back toward Renata Masciarelli that caught her going the wrong way and went into the back of the net for an autogol in the 85th to give Toluca the lead. Diana Guatemala put it away for the visitors in the 87th when she was unattended in the box and got onto a nice ball in from Román.

Monterrey 2, Puebla F.C. 0: Despite the scoreline, Puebla played a decent game against a very good Rayadas team. Puebla defended well, but a breakdown in the 18th minute left Christina Burkenroad too much time and space and she made it look easy from just inside of the box. Then in the 66th minute a Diana García cross meant for Desirée Monsiváis found Samara Alcalá instead and the center back’s momentum knocked it into her own goal.

Club Tijuana 1, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 1: A good game by both sides ends in a fair result as Xolos Femenil and Querétaro end in a 1-1 draw. Jaquelín García converted a penalty in the 18th minute to put Querétaro up, but 12 minutes later Renae Cuéllar broke through the line and hit the equalizer. Both Itzel González and Vanessa Córdoba had solid games in goal for their respective clubs.

FC Juárez 1, Guadalajara 2: Juárez lead in this one until Licha Cervantes put the game on her back to give Chivas the win on the road. Alexa Curiel converted a penalty just before the half to give the home side the advantage, but Cervantes equalized it in the 54th when she made a nice move to get on the inside of her defender and rifle one into the back of the net. Then in the 73rd Cervantes got a header from inside of the box in to secure all three points for Chivas.

Notes and other things:

This week has been very busy, with the collaborative efforts between people who cover Liga MX and people who cover Major League Soccer during Leagues Cup and Concacaf Champions League dates, and while I enjoy using sports to help (at least partially) bridge divides I can’t help but wonder when we’ll get something like this between Liga MX Femenil and the National Women’s Soccer League.

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I haven’t talked much about the Olympics here, but it’s wild to think that México didn’t go to the Olympics because they couldn’t get past the bronze and gold medal winners. Anyway I’m happy Canada won gold at the Olympics, and Shireen Ahmed broke down not only what it meant to the country, but what still needs to happen in Canada to grow women’s soccer: namely a professional league of their own.

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Toña Is has stepped down as Pachuca’s manager, citing personal reasons.

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Corinthians are one of the best teams in the Western Hemisphere, and they beat Ferroviária 3-0 in the opening leg of the Campeonato Paulista.

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The Twitter account for Juventus FC Women got in hot water after posting a photo of one of it’s players making a racist gesture along with a set of emojis also making the gesture. I’m not going to link it here, but it’s not hard to find if you want to look for it. It’s honestly quite sad that one of the better known clubs in the world has a player that made the gesture, a photographer who took a picture of it, and a comms person or social media manager who posted it, all of which thought it was ok.

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After Puebla’s 2-0 loss to Monterrey, Puebla manager Juan Carlos Cacho admitted the team took a 14 hour bus ride to the match. This is simply not acceptable from a league who is fairly open about its ambition to improve and be one of the best leagues in the hemisphere if not the world. It bothers me knowing that Cacho will probably face some professional blowback for saying the quiet part out loud, but I also know that this isn’t just a Puebla problem.

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A quick nod to the upcoming start of women’s soccer season in colleges in the United States. Best of luck to all teams, especially though to my locals University of Delaware and Delaware State University. I’m hoping to make it to a Blue Hens and a Hornets game this year, and I hope you consider doing so for your local school and/or alma mater.

If you have something that should be included in this segment, please reach out to me via twitter or email me at golazodelgringo@gmail.com

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Next week (all records are in W-D-L format, all times as listed):

Friday, August 13:

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (0-2-2) vs. León (1-0-3) - 5:00 PM - TVC Deportes (Mexico)

Mazatlán FC (0-0-4) vs. Monterrey (3-1-0) - 8:00 PM - TVP (Mexico)

Saturday, August 14:

Toluca (2-0-2) vs. FC Juárez (0-0-4) - 12:00 PM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

Sunday, August 15:

Guadalajara (3-1-0) vs. Necaxa (0-1-3) - 10:30 AM - Telemundo Deportes App, CHIVASTV

Puebla F.C. (2-0-2) vs. Cruz Azul (2-2-0) - 12:00 PM - TVC Deportes (Mexico)

Monday, August 16:

UNAM Pumas (0-2-2) vs. Club Tijuana (1-3-0) 5:00 PM - TUDN (Mexico)

Pachuca (1-2-1) vs. América (3-0-1) - 7:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico)

Tigres UANL (4-0-0) vs. Club Atlético de San Luis (1-1-2) - 7:00 PM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

Santos Laguna (2-1-1) vs. Atlas (3-0-1) - 9:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico), FOX Deportes (United States)