Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Three-for-three

Toluca was not about to be overshadowed by Necaxa and America. Toluca went into Cienciano and walked away with a 2-1 victory.

The day before, America and Necaxa each won by 2-1 scores, against El Nacional and Alianza Lima respectively.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh on Necaxa...

Anyway, it's interesting that Necaxa played its first-choice team while America (Blanco, Cabanas) and Toluca (Zinha, Vicente Sanchez) each rested some of their better players. I don't think that necessarily speaks to which tournament the teams are making a priority - league or cup - but rather the coaches trying to balance out the busy schedule and decide what's best for their club.

It's tricky because many Mexican clubs that have done well in Libertadores have not done well in league. Cruz Azul's 2001 team that walked through River Plate and Rosario Central and came up short at Boca Juniors on PKs did not even make the Mexican league playoffs that year.

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