Friday night’s doubleheader is an exciting way to kick off Jornada 2 of this Liga MX season. The matchups fall in just the right way so that even though three of the four teams playing on Friday are debatably the three worst teams in the league, both games will definitely be worth your time.
Veracruz vs Lobos BUAP
This is the game in the relegation battle this season. Veracruz sits pretty deep in the drop zone at the moment, though Lobos are the closest (and only) team Los Tiburones can realistically hope to surpass. Lobos shocked everyone with a 2-0 victory over Santos Laguna to open their season last week, while Veracruz drew 0-0 at Pumas in what can only be described as an extremely dull game.
Leo Ramos, who had eight goals in half a season for Lobos during the Apertura, opened his account for 2019 against Santos and looks like one of the most dominant players in the entire league at the moment. Against a Veracruz team that gave up an astonishing 40 goals last season, expect him to create some trouble.
Los Tiburones, to their credit, picked up a tough road point at the Olímpico, and they’ve brought in 11 players over the break in the last ditch effort to save themselves. The new back line had a solid game, especially new signing Fabricio, and the use of two defensive midfielders appeared to pay off. The team has seemingly put all their faith in captain Cristian Menéndez to handle the goal-scoring duties, and he may just not have enough support.
The oddsmakers are calling this game a toss-up, with Veracruz listed at +162, BUAP listed at +170, and a draw set at +230. Certainly, we don’t quite have any substantial evidence to confidently say that Veracruz has improved enough to win, but I think the stakes of this game, combined with the advantage of being at home, should give them the edge. If Los Tiburones lose this game, their chances of survival are finished.
Atlas vs América
Atlas looked very much like end-of-the-Apertura Atlas on opening day when they beat Querétaro 2-1 away from home. This team is not the side that needed half a season to score even a single goal. But despite their improvements, América is the real show here. The defending champs did not play their Jornada 1 match against Necaxa yet, and thus are making their 2019 debut when these two teams clash at the Jalisco.
América may be without wonder-kid Diego Lainez (who has just signed with Real Betis), but they’re still among the favorites to win the title and should take this game fairly easily. A good stat about last season’s América team: They had six players who scored at least five goals, and they retain all of them besides Lainez. To give you an idea of the depth Las Aguilas possess, consider that Mateus Uribe, Andrés Ibargüen, and Henry Martin (who are all still on the roster) did NOT score five goals last year.
Atlas’ two big additions are the Santos duo of Osvaldo Martinez and Jesús Isijara, who both showed out in the opener against Querétaro. They split the team’s two goals between themselves. Los Rojinegros have improved on paper and will likely improve on the field, too, but to handle an América team that has had a decent amount of time to come down from the championship high is a tall order.
