Liga MX Femenil recap: 2022 Apertura, Week 3

While things on the table are still about as strange as they were last week, we are seeing some of the traditional powers awaken after their summer slumber. Monterrey got their second win of the season and got back into the top eight, Toluca and Santos are still in the top eight with wins against Pumas and Pachuca respectively, and Tigres got their first win of the season which could spell trouble for everyone else in the league.

Game of the Week

Tigres UANL 4, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 0: Up until this point in the season, nothing seemed to have been working right for Tigres. It didn’t help that a good portion of the team was out the first week, playing in the Concacaf W tournament. But if the players were back last week, Tigres as a team is back this week with a solid 4-0 win over Querétaro. Tigres had a difficult time cracking Querétaro’s defense, with the visitors putting up a solid performance for most of the half and getting lucky on a couple of occasions when Tigres hit the woodwork. Perhaps then it was fitting that a fluky goal at the end of the first half broke the tie, with Stephany Mayor hitting a shot that bounced through goalkeeper Marta Alemany’s legs. That’s all that Tigres needed, and Carmelina Moscato’s side adjusted in the second half to open things up. Mia Fishel got a ball from deep at the halfway line, made a touch past the defender, then went in on goal. Alemany did all she could, but there’s only so much one can do when Fishel is bearing down on you, and Fishel got her first goal of the season. Five minutes later it was Jackie Ovalle hitting a blast from outside of the box that Alemany couldn’t get to. Gallos had their best chance of the game in the 68th when Ximena Rios got past her defender and into the box, but Ceci Santiago did well to push it wide. Fer Elizondo was hauled down in the box in the 75th minute, an Mayor converted he penalty to put the exclamation point on the evening for the home side.

Other scores:

Atlas 2, América 2

UNAM Pumas 1, Toluca 2

Club Atlético de San Luis 0, Guadalajara 1

León 0, Cruz Azul 2

Necaxa 1, Mazatlán FC 1

Santos Laguna 3, Pachuca 2

Monterrey 3, Puebla F.C. 1

FC Juárez 0, Club Tijuana 1

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Sub 18 results

Week 5

Tigres UANL 0, Monterrey 0

Pachuca 1, Necaxa 1

América 2, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 0

Puebla F.C. 0, Cruz Azul 4

Atlas 1, Club Atlético de San Luis 0

León 3, Club Tijuana 0

Santos Laguna 3, Mazatlán FC 1

FC Juárez 0, Toluca 2

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

Saturday, July 30:

UNAM Pumas (2-1-1) vs. Pachuca (2-3-0)

Toluca (2-1-1) vs. América (3-0-0)

Mazatlán FC (1-1-2) vs. Atlas (3-1-1)

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (1-1-3) vs. Puebla F.C. (0-1-3)

Necaxa (1-3-0) vs. FC Juárez (2-0-2)

Sunday, July 31:

Club Atlético de San Luis (1-1-2) vs. Tigres UANL (2-1-1)

Monterrey (2-3-0) vs. León (1-0-3)

Club Tijuana (1-1-3) vs. Guadalajara (3-0-1)

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Notes and other things

This weekend during the match between Pachuca and Pumas’ men’s teams, Pachuca unveiled Jenni Hermoso to the crowd during halftime.

Introducing a marquee player like Hermoso and showing solidarity between both men’s and women’s team is something I can absolutely get behind.

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Something I can’t get behind however is Pumas unveiling Dani Alves during the halftime of the Femenil game - in the team’s nearby training facility to an open practice.

The club could have unveiled Dani Alves during the halftime of the match at Estatio Olímpico, or even held a men’s open training after the women were done. Instead they forced fans to choose between one or the other.

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Katia García has been a mainstay of Liga MX Femenil refereeing, taking charge of some of the league’s highest profile matches as well as refereeing Concacaf matches. This past week García became the first woman to referee a match in the Liga Expansión. It can be debated whether or not Liga Expansión, the men’s second division, is a step up from Liga MX Femenil (I’d offer it is not) but regardless of where you fall on that it is important to acknowledge the historical significance of this. García is a very qualified referee, and hopefully she’ll get her shot in Liga MX at some point.

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A player for Unión Española in Chile was injured in their match against Unión La Calera SADP, and had to wait more than 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a Chilean match has had to wait for an ambulance to arrive to tend to injured players. This would not fly with the men’s sides, and it similarly should not be tolerated for the women.

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I particularly liked this story in The Athletic about Wendie Renard. Unfortunately for Renard and France, they were eliminated by Germany 2-1 in the UEFA Euro Semifinals.

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Paraguayan National Team players protested during the national anthem in their match against Brazil to draw attention to the lack of support for women’s soccer in Paraguay.

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South Africa won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and got quite the reception when the returned to Johannesburg.

Don’t ever let them tell you no one pays attention to women’s soccer.

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, July 28:

Puebla F.C. (0-0-3) vs. Club Atlético de San Luis (0-0-3) - 3:45 PM - Azteca Deportes (Mexico)

Cruz Azul (2-1-0) vs. Atlas (1-2-0) - 3:45 PM - ViX

Pachuca (1-0-2) vs. León (1-1-1) - 5:05 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico)

Guadalajara (3-0-0) vs. Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (1-0-2) - 7:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico), Chivas TV, Telemundo Deportes App (United States)

Club Tijuana (2-0-1) vs. Monterrey (2-0-1) - 9:00 PM -

FC Juárez (1-0-2) vs. UNAM Pumas (2-0-1) - 9:05 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico), FOX Deportes (United States)

Friday, July 29:

Toluca (2-0-1) vs. Santos Laguna (2-0-1) - 5:00 PM - ViX

Tigres UANL (1-1-1) vs. Necaxa (0-1-2) - 7:00 PM - ViX

Mazatlán FC (0-1-2) vs. América (2-1-0) - 7:00 PM - TVP (Mexico)