Leon, Monterrey Roll While Dorados Struggle And Liga MX's Other Round Two Storylines

After the opening weekend was a tightly played week across Mexico, the second round of games saw more goals and more away teams taking the game to the home team after only one away team won last week.

Leon keep rolling

The weekend got started on the Atlantic coast when Veracruz fell 3-1 to Leon, who picked up their second win in as many games and look to not be missing a step with the departure of Carlos Pena. This is now the second week in a row where Veracruz fell behind in a match. While they showed a lot of grit to get back into it a week ago, this week they showed what happens when you fall behind against better quality opposition.

The real talking point from the match will be the Veracruz Owner getting into an altercation with the higher ups of the reffing association in the owner’s box,sShowing some of the dark side of Liga MX, which shouldn't happen.

Santos finally get home win

Friday night finally saw Santos win at home for the first time since the Clausura of last year. While Santos will be happy to come away with the 1-0 win, Chiapas will need to find ways to get points away from home. While they’ve been able to make the most of their home field, their away form will need to change if they hope to make a run at the playoffs again.

Mexico's big clubs do battle

In the first game on Saturday, Mexican giants Cruz Azul and Chivas battled to a 1-1 draw, leaving both teams still looking for their first wins of the season. Cruz Azul were again unable to take advantage of playing at home, while Chivas still find themselves in a relegation battle, taking two draws from two winnable games. Thus, they will be kicking themselves for only coming away with two points. They’ve also given away the lead three times over the span of those two weeks, and while Cruz Azul are seen as one of the bigger teams in Mexico, they’re nowhere near the strongest or title contenders. Giving up leads early doesn’t bode well for the Guadalajara giants.

White Rosters stay stagnant

Queretaro for the second week in a row left the pitch empty handed as they were out played and run ragged by the young upstart Pachuca, who emerged as 1-0 winners. For the second week in a row they failed to create real chances in front of goal. As for Pachuca, they’ve taken a solid four points in two weeks while picking up a draw in Tijuana and now this victory. They continue to play aggressive and possession based soccer and are getting the goals to go with it, while the defense has held up their end of the deal, which is something that has been their weakness in the past.

Champions get on track

Defending champions Tigres got their first win of the season by completely dominating relegation threated Morelia in their first match at home. The defense was suffocating as they never let Morelia get out of first gear; they kept the ball and had Morelia running endlessly on defense. It was a dominant victory for Tigres, which showed the rest of the league that there’s no real championship hangover.

America find their groove

In the biggest match of the week, Atlas hosted America as El Jalisco welcomed back Rafael Marquez. The first half was a back and forth encounter with Atlas having the better of the chances, and they peppered the outside of the posts a few times. The game turned on its head with an Atlas own goal right before half, which gave America a 1-0 lead at half. From there, Marquez came off with a calf injury and will be down and out for a few weeks. In the second half, without Marquez leading at the back, Atlas looked completely lost. By midway through the second America had complete control and left Guadalajara as 3-0 victors, bouncing back nicely from their 0-0 draw a week before.

Dorados fall deeper in the hole

The Saturday night cap saw Miguel Herrera get his first win as Tijuana coach by pushing Dorados deeper into the relegation darkness with a 1-0 win in Sinaloa. Dorados again struggled to create chances, and unfortunately for them, were unable to get on the scoring sheet. This game says much more about Dorados than it does Tijuana, and we don’t really know what this Tijuana team is about yet. As for Dorados, we know they’re a team who’s struggling and need wins ASAP.

Pumas and Toluca play barnburner

Sunday morning saw last year’s runners-up Pumas bounce back nicely from their 1-0 loss at Monterrey by beating Toluca 3-2 in a back and forth barnburner by two of Mexico’s better teams. This was the kind of game that makes people love Liga MX. For Toluca, the loss won’t hurt too much. In their first two games they’ve already played the champions and runners-up, and should take confidence in performing well in the rest of the league. For Pumas, it’s about showing that this is the team which will show up at a more consistent level and that the one we saw last week against Monterrey was just an aberration.

Monterrey send message

The last match on Sunday saw Monterrey make easy work of Puebla in a 3-1 victory away from home. After rivals Tigres won the title last season, there was pressure on Monterrey at the beginning of the year. They have answered the early challenge thus far, and look like one of the best teams in the league and one of the teams that can challenge for the title. For Puebla, they just don’t have the talent and depth to face a team of Monterrey’s talent. Luckily for them in the relegation battle, Dorados can’t get off the starting blocks.

*Top eight teams qualify to Liguilla

With fifteen games to go in the season, no team in the relegation battle has helped themselves out with Tijuana the only team to win so far. Another win this coming week and with 7 points out of the first 9, they could see themselves clear of any minor relegation worries. On the other hand, every team besides Chivas lost this weekend, meaning nothing changes too much. Chivas should be kicking themselves for giving away those leads considering how the other teams have struggled in relegation. All of this really means that Dorados are starting to get to the point where draws just aren't good enough. The problem for them is they don’t have the players necessary to get the goals they need to win.

*Team with the lowest percentage will be relegated