The Jaguares vs Toluca match being held on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 8:30 PM EDT is a contrast of opposites, the best Liga MX team against arguably the worst. Jaguares will host Toluca at Estadio Victor Manuel Reyna and will have to play the best game it has played this season if it wants to get any points. Can El Profe Cruz save his team from dropping further in the relegation race?
Jaguares has been just plain awful. Let’s take a look at their stats: one win, one tie, five losses, seven goals scored, and sixteen goals against (worst defense in the Liga MX). How El Profe Cruz has been able to maintain his job is beyond me. Granted, the ownership essentially sold the team’s best three players in the off-season and didn’t replace them. But still, Jaguares was in the playoffs just last season, and now they’re nowhere close.
Jaguares is desperate for any points, and it needs to get them at home at least. The next three matches after Toluca are away at Santos, home at Cruz Azul, and away at Morelia: by all means a very tough schedule. I suspect that Jaguares will retain Cruz whatever happens after this Toluca match. However, I will predict that El Profe Cruz will not last through this tough four game schedule Jaguares has coming up.
After an awesome 5-0 start, Toluca has slowed down in the past two weeks, achieving “just” ties against Tigres and America. Still, they are Liga MX leaders with seventeen points earned in seven matches, results that many of the “big” teams in Mexico would love to have. Toluca plays a well balanced game: they have scored 12 goals and allowed only six. Furthermore, it’s a team that values teamwork over individual prowess, it doesn’t rely on any individual player for the success of the team. Meza has done an excellent job coaching this team, and frankly, Toluca will have no issues against Jaguares.
Prediction: Jaguares has been terrible all season long, and Toluca has been excellent. It’s as simple as that. Toluca will get the win over the much weaker Chiapas squad easily. The score will be Jaguares 0 – Toluca 2.
Television: The Jaguares vs Toluca Apertura 2012 match will be shown on Fox Deportes, and Azteca America this Friday, September 14 at 8:30 PM Eastern.
