Goals are sought in the Mexican soccer league. Monterrey and Atlas added the second zero draw in the same number of matches held in the first leg quarterfinals, after 96 minutes in which the rojinegros demonstrated why defense was one of the main characteristics that led them to the sub-leadership of the regular tournament.
Diego Cocca’s Atlas jumped onto the BBVA stadium court with a well-marked line of three central defenders, between Anderson Santamaría, Jesús Angulo and Hugo Nervo, complemented by the strong containment of captain Aldo Rocha.
For his part, Javier Aguirre sent the same 11 with which his Rayados thrashed and eliminated Cruz Azul in the repechage of the weekend, again with elements such as Erick Aguirre and Matías Kranevitter instead of the losses of César Montes and Stefan Medina. However, the lock on the Atlas was very different from what they found before The Machine.
After the away goal rule was eradicated from this Apertura 2021 tournament, the royals came out with the obligation to score at home to advance the first leg of the quarterfinals, which will close next Saturday at the Jalisco stadium. His possession was slightly higher at 56% and with seven shots to six from the Atlas, but in the end there was no major effect.
The ‘Steel Giant’, as the house of the Rayados is known, exploded at minute 60 with a goal from Rogelio Funes Mori product of a center down the left wing, but the shout of Javier Aguirre and the more than 38,000 assistants he was drowned when the assistant, Enedina Caudillo Gómez, raised her flag as a sign of a clear out of place that was not even reviewed by the VAR.
The first half was a loose cannon for Monterrey, as he did not register a single shot against Camilo Vargas’s goal. It was for this reason that the ‘Vasco’ decided to rethink his strategy to a line of five with Jesús Gallardo and Erick Aguirre as wingers, while he left Maximiliano Meza free to accompany Funes Mori. In addition, at minute 72 he made room for another center forward, Vincent Janssen, who replaced midfielder Alfonso González.
But Atlas showed why they were the best defense of the tournament with only 10 goals conceded in 17 games, the same amount as America. The rojinegros contained the attacks of Gallardo and Aguirre and did not allow Janssen, Meza or Carlos Rodríguez to penetrate, much less the heads of Funes Mori. The fatigue and skill of the red and black defenders was noted with Aldo Rocha and Anderson Santamaría throwing themselves a few minutes on the pitch to cut the rhythm of the local team.
However, the zero to zero also made it clear the difficulty that Monterrey has had to obtain points at home during this semester. The regios have played a total of nine games at BBVA and their record is barely four victories, the last of them since September 22 against Toluca (2-0), but since then they have reaped two defeats and a draw of league against Atlas, in which there are already 270 minutes without a goal.
In the end, Rayados only registered one shot on goal against the Colombian Camilo Vargas, which was not demanded too much except at the last moment, with a series of rebounds in the area that even provoked the cry of the public for a penalty, but neither there was a revision of the VAR and it was all over.
Vargas, for his part, remains one of the most insurmountable goalkeepers in Mexican soccer, since he has not conceded a goal in 20 of 38 league games held throughout 2021, partly also due to the defensive strength he led. the Apertura 2021 tournament.
According to the Goles y Cifras portal, this is the first time that the first two games of a Mexican soccer league ended without goals, after also Pumas and América tied 0 in the previous one of Monterrey against Atlas. The series continue on Thursday with the visit of Tigres to Santos Laguna and that of León to Puebla.
