The regular season of the Ascenso MX this Clausura 2017 is now over and there are many noteworthy things to look at. Eight teams will fight for a chance to reach the coveted Liga MX, while one team may have lost it all, some familiar faces also lie within the league’s top scorers.
The Playoffs
The playoffs are all set in the Ascenso MX competition, Dorados de Sinaloa are the current champions of the league. Eight teams will compete to get to a final against Sinaloa that will determine which team will get to the top flight of Mexican soccer. The Dorados themselves are in the playoffs and if they come out on top they will just automatically reach the Liga MX. There will be two quarter-final games this Wednesday, April 19, Lobos BUAP will host Alebrijes de Oaxaca and Zacatepec will host Dorados de Sinaloa. This Thursday, April 20 two more quarter-final duels will be played as Potros UAEM will host Juarez and Cimarrones de Sonora will host Mineros de Zacatecas.
The second division of Mexican soccer was a very hard-fought league this year, only five points separated first place, Zacatecas from eighth place, Sonora. Coras FC who had beaten Club America earlier in the year in a Copa MX match finished just outside of the playoffs in ninth place with 26 points. Other notable teams that missed the ‘liguilla’ include Leones Negros and Atlante, who started off the tournament great but had a big collapse not winning in its last six games. The playoffs should be intriguing to see, all the teams will fight hard and risk it all to get to the coveted Liga MX.
Relegation
The relegation battle in the Ascenso MX turned out to be an intense battle between Loros Universidad and Tampico Madero. Loros was a smaller club comprised of all Mexican-born players while Tampico had some familiar faces like Daniel Luduena, Marc Crosas, Omar Esparza and Omar Arellano. Head coach, Daniel Guzman saved Tampico Madero from relegation like he did years ago with Santos Laguna in the Liga MX.
Loros’ story was a sad one as the team from Colima saw poor support from its home crowd getting a shocking attendance of 690 people in its last home game. It appears as the team won’t be missed by the people of Colima as it totaled an attendance of 10,716, less than the capacity of its stadium. Ironically enough Tampico Madero averaged the highest attendance totals in the Ascenso MX, the team clearly loved by the home support, just missing playoffs coming in 10th place with 23 points.
Top Scorers
Unlike the Liga MX, the Ascenso MX does have a strong reliance on Mexican-born goal-scorers. Out of the top 10 goal-scorers, only three were not born in Mexico. Lobos BUAP striker, Diego Jimenez finished as the league’s top scorer with 10 goals, helping make his team the most potent offense of the tournament with 30 goals. One of the more notable names in the top 10 scorers was Oaxaca’s, Giancarlo Maldonado. The Venezuelan forward at 34-years-old proved to be a huge figure for the Alebrijes scoring six goals.
