Liga MX Femenil recap: 2022 Clausura, Week 14

In this column, you may remember that I’ve talked a bit about the magic number - a number of points a club has to hit in order to make the Liguilla. It’s the number of points a club has against the maximum possible points all others teams have; however many points a team has minus the maximum possible points the ninth placed team has is the team’s magic number.

The opposite of the magic number is the tragic number, the number of points a team has until it can no longer mathematically qualify for the Liguilla. A team has a maximum number of points left they can earn on the season. The difference between this and the eighth place team’s current points is how many a team has until it’s eliminated. Technically no one is eliminated from the Liguilla yet, however Necaxa, Mazatlán, and Juárez are all on watch.

The rough part is that all three teams are improving, and it’s a bit of a shame to see the amount of meaningful games left dwindling. But such is the nature of the system. There’s always next year.

Necaxa 1, Club Atlético de San Luis 2: Necaxa had a real opportunity to get into a position to challenge for a Liguilla spot, however San Luis had other ideas, beating Las Centellas 2-1 in Aguascalientes. Bea Parra put Atleti up in the 35th minute converting a penalty for her fifth goal of the season. Flor Rodríguez tied it for the hosts in the 75th minute with a beautiful shot from outside of the box into the top corner of the net. In the third minute of stoppage though Jordana Pérez got a ball over the top, made a couple of moves to lose the defender, and fired a perfectly placed shot into the far corner to win the game for San Luis and keep their Liguilla hopes alive. Necaxa meanwhile have a tragic number of just five.

América 2, FC Juárez 1: It wasn’t their best game, but América were good enough to get the win at home, downing Juárez 2-1. América started off on the front foot, forcing Christina Holguin to make a save on a Sarah Luebbert shot in the seventh minute and Scarlett Camberos ringing a shot off of the post in the eighth. Camberos broke through ten minutes later though redirecting a cross from Mónica Rodríguez into the back of the net. Camberos doubled the lead in the 39th, taking a pass from Katty Martínez and shooting at Holguin. While Holguin made the initial stop, the rebound went right back to Camberos for the easy tap-in. Luebbert almost added another just before halftime, hitting the far post with a shot. After the half, Holguin came up with a big stop on Camberos from close range, and while she again gave up the rebound, Luebbert put it well over the crossbar. At the other end, Natalia Acuña came up with a big save in the 51st minute, tipping a long-range shot from Andrea Hernández over the bar. On the ensuing corner kick, Jasmine Casarez headed in her third goal of the season to pull Juárez within one. Juárez almost knotted it back up a minute later when Acuña made a play on a cross into the box, but it fell right to Casarez’ feet. She took a touch to get free of Acuña and shot, but it smashed off of the post and off of Janelly Farías before Acuña was able to grab it. Replays showed the ball most likely hit Farías in the arm, but without VAR there was no recourse for Juárez. Ericka Soto had a chance in stoppage to tie it, getting a cross all alone in the box but she pushed her shot high of the bar. Tity González’ changes at halftime helped Juárez get back into the match, and with some better luck they could have come away with a point or three on the afternoon. Instead, they’re looking at possibly being the first team eliminated from the Liguilla - their tragic number is just four.

Mazatlán FC 0, Guadalajara 1: Mazatlán also had a chance to get close to a Liguilla spot but will instead worry about their tragic number, losing to Chivas 1-0 at home. Licha Cervantes got her league-best 13th goal of the season in the eighth minute when she got a nice pass in the box from Casandra Montero, turned, and fired past Alondra Ubaldo. It was close, but replays showed Cervantes was onside for the goal. Connie Caliz had a good opportunity in the 26th minute, but Blanca Félix read her shot perfectly and made the save. While both teams had their looks throughout the rest of the match, neither was really able to threaten much until Licha got a ball over the top in stoppage, but Ubaldo did well to cut down the angle and stop the shot. Chivas kept pace with Tigres and Rayadas at the top of the table, while Mazatlán is four points from being eliminated.

Other scores:

León 2, Cruz Azul 3

Santos Laguna 0, Puebla F.C. 0

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 0, Club Tijuana 2

Atlas 3, Toluca 2

UNAM Pumas 0, Tigres UANL 1

Monterrey 5, Pachuca 0

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Sub 17 results

Week 13

Tigres UANL 1, Club Atlético de San Luis 0

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 2, Puebla F.C. 1

Necaxa 2, América 4

Monterrey 0, Santos Laguna 0

Mazatlán FC 1, León 1

Cruz Azul 3, Toluca 2

Club Tijuana 2, Atlas 1

Week 14

Pachuca 0, Necaxa 0

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Notes and other things

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The Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns have been the subject of a fan revolt in the wake of both the Paul Riley sexual abuse scandal with the Thorns and the apparent cover-up of former Timbers player Andy Polo’s domestic violence. Banners with the saying “You Knew” in regards to owner Merritt Paulson and former Thorns and current Timbers general manager Gavin Wilkinson have been spotted at games as well. Madison Shanley is the person who sings the national anthem at Portland Timbers games, and she used that platform to shine a light on the culture of abuse by wearing a “You Knew” shirt as she sang the anthem prior to Portland’s match against the LA Galaxy last week.

I pray that neither I nor any of you will ever have to be that brave.

Despite her tweet predicting her ouster, the Timbers confirmed she would remain as their anthem singer and invited her to have a conversation to express her concerns.

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Ana Gaby Paz will miss a few weeks after having surgery to repair her right index finger.

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The name of the rivalry match between Los Angeles based Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC is “The Chanclasico” and I couldn’t love it more if I tried. It’s really the perfect blend of uniquely (continental) American and irreverent fun that soccer misses out on so often when teams and fans try to take it too seriously.

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TUDN has launched ViX, a streaming platform that replaces their TUDN Xtra service. It’s free to view throughout most of the Americas, and the good news is that it will carry a lot of the Liga MX Femenil games that may have been previously unavailable in the Unites States and elsewhere.

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The International Federation of Football History & Statistics released their top 200 clubs in women’s soccer in the world, and it’s a pretty solid list. Barcelona is number one in the world, with Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, Corinthians, Wolfsburg, Bayern München, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Juventus rounding out the top ten. The Portland Thorns are the top Concacaf club at #11, while Tigres is the top Mexican club at #20. Other Mexican clubs in the top 200 were Rayadas (#31), Chivas (#48), Atlas (#61), América (#64), Pachuca (#87), Tijuana (#92), Santos (tied with Neman of Belarus at #131), Pumas (tied with two other clubs at #136), Toluca (#166), Querétaro and Cruz Azul (tied with nine other clubs at #171), and Puebla (tied with four other clubs at #191).

Check out the full list here.

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There was a marriage proposal at the Rayadas-Pachuca match from two members of Familia Rayada, Rayadas’ supporter’s group. The team held up a banner, and she said yes! Here’s wishing the two a very happily ever after.

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):

International window is April 4 through April 12. All matches are make-up matches from rescheduled dates.

Thursday, April 7:

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (4-2-6) vs. Atlas (5-5-3) - 5:00 PM - TVC Deportes (Mexico)

Saturday, April 9:

UNAM Pumas U17 (3-4-4) vs. Gallos Blancos de Querétaro U17 (4-1-7) - 11:00 AM

Toluca U17 (7-1-4) vs. FC Juárez U17 (1-4-5) - 12:00 PM

León U17 (6-2-3) vs. Atlas U17 (5-3-3) - 3:45 PM

Sunday, April 10:

Club Atlético de San Luis U17 (2-3-6) - Club Tijuana U17 (5-1-5) - 10:00 AM

Monterrey U17 (3-3-6) vs. Tigres UANL U17 (5-2-4) - 10:00 AM

Mazatlán FC U17 (3-2-7) vs. Guadalajara U17 (5-3-3) - 10:00 AM

América U17 (9-2-0) vs. Cruz Azul U17 (4-1-7) - 11:00 AM

León (3-3-7) vs. Monterrey (12-0-1) - 7:00 PM

Monday, April 11:

Club Atlético de San Luis (2-5-6) vs. Puebla F.C. (3-3-7) - 5:00 PM - ESPN (Mexico)

Toluca (3-4-6) vs. Cruz Azul (4-3-6) - 5:00 PM - TUDN (Mexico)

Guadalajara (10-3-0) vs. FC Juárez (2-1-10) - 5:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico), Chivas TV, Telemundo Deportes App (United States)

Santos Laguna (3-2-8) vs. América (9-2-2) - 7:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico)