The Mexican football federation must continuously find ways for Liga MX teams to use more Mexican-born players. Recently the 9/9 rule came into effect this season which limited Liga MX teams to nine foreigners on matchday rosters.
The youth minutes rule was also reinstated this season to try and give young Mexican players more playing time. One of the young standout players to surface this year was Queretaro’s teenaged midfielder Marcel Ruiz, who just turned 18 years old last month.
Rafael Puente Jr. has always been a believer in giving Mexican players opportunities and he demonstrated that in charge of Queretaro this season. In the first-leg of the quarterfinal matchup against Cruz Azul this past Wednesday, Puente used seven Mexican-born players in his starting lineup (George Corral, Luis Romo, Hiram Mier, Javier Guemez, Jaime Gomez, Jordi Cortizo, Marcel Ruiz) and four on his bench.
The only other Liga MX team in the liguilla to use seven players in their starting lineup was precisely Cruz Azul. Pedro Caixinha used the same core of Mexican players he had been using all season with Jesus Corona, Julio Cesar Dominguez, Adrian Aldrete, Jose Maduena, Elias Hernandez, Rafael Baca and Roberto Alvarado.
The only other Liga MX team in the playoffs that comes close to these two teams is Pumas UNAM, who had six Mexican-born players in its lineup. From there, Tigres UANL had four along with Toluca, Club America and Santos Laguna while Monterrey had the least with three in its starting lineup.
