Liga MX Femenil recap: 2022 Clausura, Week 3

Liga MX Femenil should not be defined by the actions of one person. As such, a lot of good play happened this past week involving 16 teams, with Tigres and Juárez postponing their match due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Atlas 1, Santos Laguna 0: A good game between two pretty even teams. Both Ana Gaby Paz and Paola Calderón put on good displays tending goal, and this could easily have ended in a 0-0 draw. Adriana “Boyi” Iturbide got her third goal in as many games for Atlas in the 30th minute when she got her head onto a free kick, redirecting it far post. Santos players were insistent that she was offside, and replays show they may have had a point, but the goal stood. Minutes later Atlas were awarded a penalty kick, but Veronica Pérez’ shot was saved by Calderón, and Pérez shot off of the rebound went over the net. Late in the match Calderón came up big again, swatting a long distance shot off of the underside of the crossbar to keep Santos within one. Unfortunately for her, Santos couldn’t find a way to get the equalizer and are still sitting on one point on the season.

Cruz Azul 0, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 1: When Querétaro puts it all together, they are a fun team to watch. They put it all together against Cruz Azul, getting a 1-0 win that could have been much more lopsided. Querétaro’s goal came in the ninth minute when Itzayana González made a good stop on one shot and a second was blocked off of the line by a defender, but he rebound fell to Alejandra Medina, who rifled a shot into the back of the net. González saved a penalty attempt in the 43rd minute to keep her team in things, but at the other end Vanessa Córdoba kept her first clean sheet of the season to lead her team to their first points of 2022 as well.

Mazatlán FC 0, Puebla F.C. 0: Both teams will feel like they could have gotten a win from this one but both will settle for the point and take comfort that they got good performances from their goalkeepers. Alondra Ubaldo make a great stop on a close range shot in the 12th minute, and then at the other end Siena Ruelas made an equally great stop on a Norma Gaitán shot in the 20th minute. Ubaldo got a little help from the crossbar in the 25th on a shot from Ivonne Najar before making a fantastic diving stop on a shot from distance from Lía Morán. Both goalkeepers also got help from shots that hit the post late, preserving the draw.

Necaxa 1, UNAM Pumas 0: Necaxa continues their upward trajectory with a win over Pumas. The game was tied until the 41st minute when Necaxa drove into Pumas’ end and the visitors couldn’t clear the ball out. It finally fell to Brenda León, who fought off a defender, dribbled a bit centrally, and then unleashed a shot into the top far corner that goalkeeper Miriam Aguirre couldn’t get to. Of course it’s very early in the season, but Necaxa are tied with Tigres, Toluca, Cruz Azul, and América, all of whom made the Liguilla last season.

América 0, Rayadas 2: We’ll go into the drama around Craig Harrington later, but this was a good game between two very good teams that on a different night could have ended much differently. América looked very good throughout a lot of the match, with Sarah Luebbert making life miserable for Rayadas along América’s right flank. Monterrey however broke it open off of a counter in the 42nd when Diana García hit a cross in the box to Desirée Monsiváis, who hit it one-time past Renata Masciarelli for her 111th goal in 151 games. Still the sides continued to battle and the match looked like it could have gone either way until the 77th when a handball was called in the box. Rebeca Bernal stepped up and converted to seal the win for Rayadas, who despite having a game in hand are in second place, one point behind Chivas.

Pachuca 3, León 0: Pachuca continues to put it all together, downing León 3-0. Charlyn Corral started things off in the fourth minute by slicing though the León defense and unleashing a rocket into the top corner. Pachuca kept up the pressure, forcing Ángeles Martínez to make several saves to keep her team in the match. Corral got her brace however in the 64th minute when she hit a shot that Martínez looked like she was going to easily stop but somehow went through her arms before trickling into the back of the net. Pachuca looked to have scored again in the 71st but it was played in to Ruth Bravo who was correctly ruled to have been offside. Then in stoppage Viridiana Salazar got her first goal of the season on a shot from inside the box that Martínez got a hand on but wasn’t able to stop.

Guadalajara 2, Toluca 0: Chivas gets a solid win over a strong opponent in Toluca. Rubí Soto scored both goals for the hosts, getting a nice through ball past the defense in the 25th minute that she was able to put past Wendy Toledo. Then 11 minutes later it was Joseline Montoya doing most of the work, dribbling down into the box and dragging the defense toward her before threading a pass past Toledo and the remaining defenders for Soto to knock in for her first goals since returning from a year long stint in Spain with Villarreal. Goalkeeper Blanca Félix got her first clean sheet of the season in her first start since Week 2 of the 2021 Apertura. Toluca meanwhile looked decent but just couldn’t get the goals to go and will need to regroup after their first loss of 2022.

Club Tijuana 2, Club Atlético de San Luis 2: Tijuana will perhaps feel like they left points on the table, allowing San Luis to grab a draw at the death. After a rather unremarkable first half, Renae Cuéllar opened the scoring in the 46th minute with a wonderful strike that Stefi Jiménez couldn’t stop. San Luis however answered in the 57th when a defensive miscommunication allowed for a ball to get to Bea Parra for a tap in. Tijuana re-took the lead in the 69th minute when a miscommunication in their defense allowed the ball to fall to Renae Cuéllar, who knocked home her second of the evening. But deep in stoppage time and down a player after Esmeralda Verdugo was sent off, Tijuana conceded a corner kick that went into the mixer and Rubí Ruvalcaba was able to somehow knock it in.

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Sub 17 results

Week 3

Tigres UANL 1, Santos Laguna 3

UNAM Pumas 0, FC Juárez 0

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 0, Toluca 1

Necaxa 0, Cruz Azul 1

América 4, Puebla F.C. 1

Club Tijuana 1, Club Atlético de San Luis 3

Guadalajara 4, León 0

Atlas 1, Monterrey 0

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Notes and other things:

I had written at length about what happened during the América-Rayadas game, and quite frankly I hit a point where I was just tired. It was all just so predictable and sad, from not taking responsibility and promising to change to the non-apology apologies that were issued. I hit a point where I felt that I had no more energy for this.

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Just as I finished the above, América Femenil captain Janelly Farías released the following statement, which gave me energy and hope that something will be done.

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Then a Twitter space organized by Barra Feminista MX went over an hour and a half and had well over 1000 people in attendance where ideas were discussed to end the normalization of this sort of violence in soccer. It got #FutbolSinViolencia to the number one trending topic in México, and I am again encouraged that this behavior will not be tolerated and this story is not over. Let’s go.

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The Concacaf W Qualifying schedule was released. Mexico hosts Suriname at El Volcán on Thursday, February 17 and then plays Antigua and Barbuda at Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, February 20.

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I think I’ve said this before, but Khalida Popal really is one of the best of us.

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India looked like they were on the verge or a renaissance in women’s soccer. Once a moribund program, the Blue Tigresses turned the program around and were hosting the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup, which could have lead to their first World Cup berth. They played a spirited match against Iran, who themselves were making their first appearance, but before their second group stage match against Chinese Taipei they had 13 players test positive for COVID-19, forcing them to withdraw from the tournament and seeing the draw against Iran voided.

I sincerely hope this isn’t another semi-permanent set back for India. Momentum is something that is difficult to re-capture, but it’s too easy to just give up on things.

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Xolos Femenil and México National Team goalkeeper Itzel González signed with Sevilla, joining Kenti Robles and Pamela Tajonar as the only Mexican women in the Liga Iberdrola.

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Tigres forward Uchenna Kanu has been doing video interviews (in English) detailing her time so far in Mexico. Here’s one of them, but definitely check out the Liga MX Femenil and Tigres Femenil twitter accounts for more.

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Shireen Ahmed wrote about how France’s proposed law targeting women who wear hijab is absolute nonsense.

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Chile’s women’s soccer players are apparently very close to professionalization.

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Two years ago Atlético Madrid’s Virginia Torrecilla was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which required surgery to remove it. And then this past Sunday, this happened against her former club Barcelona.

Atleti wound up losing 7-0, but after the match Torrecilla was hoisted up on the shoulders of the Barcelona players.

Vamos Virginia. Siempre contigo.

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):

Thursday, January 27:

Cruz Azul (1-1-1) vs. FC Juárez (1-0-1) - 12:00 PM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

Puebla F.C. (0-1-2) vs. Pachuca (2-0-1) - 3:45 PM - TVC Deportes (Mexico)

León (0-0-3) vs. Club Tijuana (1-2-0) - 7:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico)

Monterrey (2-0-0) vs. Mazatlán FC (0-2-1) - 8:00 PM

Santos Laguna (0-1-2) vs. Toluca (1-1-1) - 9:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico)

Friday, January 28:

Necaxa (1-1-1) vs. Guadalajara (2-1-0) - 12:00 PM - TUDN (Mexico)

Club Atlético de San Luis (1-2-0) vs. América (1-1-1) - 5:00 PM - ESPN (Mexico)

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

Tigres UANL (1-1-0) vs. Atlas (1-2-0) - 7:00 PM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

Note: There is a doble jornada, with Week 5 games being played on Sunday, January 30 and Monday, January 31.