The Atlas will be tested by an attack-minded León squad as the Liga MX finals kick off Thursday night. León is chasing its ninth title; Atlas its second. (Photo by Refugio Ruiz/Getty Images)
The two teams set to meet in the Liga MX finals are not even the flagship franchises of their ownership groups.
Although FIFA has tried to discourage multi-club ownership, the practice is alive and thriving in Mexico.
For instance, in years past, media companies owned several teams. Televisa owned América, Necaxa and Atlante while TV Azteca owned Monarcas Morelia (now Mazatlán FC) and Atlas.
Nowadays, the only two organizations that own more than one Liga MX franchise are Grupo Pachuca (Tuzos de Pachuca and Club León) and Grupo Orlegi (Santos Laguna and Atlas).
Grupo Pachuca acquired León in late 2011 while Orlegi purchased the Zorros team in May 2019.
How they got to Liga MX Final
So let’s move away from the activity in the boardroom and take a look at the activity on the pitch.
Atlas is the No. 2 seed and hosts the first leg tonight. The Zorros bounced back from “relegation” hell last season (Atlas finished second-last in the “relegation standings,” paying a 90 million-peso penalty, but still qualified for the playoffs to begin its climb out of the Liga MX basement) before rising to prominence this season with a tough defensive mentality. They moved into second place back on Matchday 12 and remained there the rest of the Apertura 2021.
Relying on three central defenders in front of star goalie Camilo Vargas, the “Rojinegros” have proven to be the stingiest team in Liga MX. The Zorros allowed just 10 goals in 17 regular-season games (tied with América for fewest) and have permitted just 2 goals in four playoff games thus far.
Atlas has not outright won either of its playoff series thus far, benefiting from Liga MX postseason rules that favor the higher-seeded team. (In the event of an aggregate tie, the team with the better regular-season record advances. That rule does NOT apply in the Finals.) The Zorros shut out the high-powered Monterrey attack on the road in the quarterfinals before battling the Rayados to a 1-1 draw in Estadio Jalisco thanks to a controversial penalty converted by Julio Furch.
In the semifinals, Atlas stole a 1-0 win at UNAM (again, a goal by Furch) before surviving a tough challenge from the Pumas who won 1-0 at the Jalisco. And again, a penalty claim (this one not called) benefited the Zorros who advanced on the 1-1 aggregate score line.
‘The Green Machine’ revs up late
León loves to attack, attack, attack, relying on an intricate pass-and-move system that features playmaking from all 10 field players. Wingers Angel Mena and Jean Meneses are particularly dangerous while Víctor Dávila led the team in scoring with 6 goals.
The focus on going forward is helped by a sturdy back line in front of Rodolfo Cota whose nine shutouts tied his Finals counterpart (Vargas) for most in Liga MX this season. The defense was doubly important this season since the offense struggled to find the net this season.
Since a 2-0 loss at Atlas back on Matchday 10, the Esmeraldas conceded only 2 goals the rest of the way, riding six shut-outs to a 4-2-1 closing stretch to claim the No. 3 seed.
In the playoffs, “La Fiera” has used home field to make up first-leg deficits. León lost 2-1 at Puebla to open the quarterfinals before dominating at the Camp Nou (winning 2-0). In the first leg of the semifinals, León was lucky to return home just down 2-1 after the Tigres thoroughly dominated the match. Back at the Camp Nou, the Esmeraldas rode a 2-1 into the Finals (thanks to that Liga MX rule about higher seeds).
Mena has scored four of León’s five goals in the playoffs, matching his regular-season output.
multi-club ownership</a>, the practice is alive and thriving in Mexico.</p>
<p>For instance, in years past, media companies owned several teams. Televisa owned América, Necaxa and Atlante while TV Azteca owned Monarcas Morelia (now Mazatlán FC) and Atlas.</p>
<p>Nowadays, the only two organizations that own more than one Liga MX franchise are Grupo Pachuca (Tuzos de Pachuca and Club León) and Grupo Orlegi (Santos Laguna and Atlas).</p>
<p>Grupo Pachuca acquired León in late 2011 while Orlegi purchased the Zorros team in May 2019.</p>
<h2>How they got to Liga MX Final</h2>
<p>So let’s move away from the activity in the boardroom and take a look at the activity on the pitch.</p>
<p>Atlas is the No. 2 seed and hosts the first leg tonight. The Zorros bounced back from “relegation” hell last season (Atlas finished second-last in the “relegation standings,” paying a 90 million-peso penalty, but still qualified for the playoffs to begin its climb out of the Liga MX basement) before rising to prominence this season with a tough defensive mentality. They moved into second place back on Matchday 12 and remained there the rest of the Apertura 2021.</p>
<p>Relying on three central defenders in front of star goalie Camilo Vargas, the <em>“Rojinegros”</em> have proven to be the stingiest team in Liga MX. The Zorros allowed just 10 goals in 17 regular-season games (tied with América for fewest) and have permitted just 2 goals in four playoff games thus far.</p>
<p>Atlas has not outright won either of its playoff series thus far, benefiting from Liga MX postseason rules that favor the higher-seeded team. (In the event of an aggregate tie, the team with the better regular-season record advances. That rule does NOT apply in the Finals.) The Zorros shut out the high-powered Monterrey attack on the road in the quarterfinals before battling the Rayados to a 1-1 draw in Estadio Jalisco thanks to a controversial penalty converted by Julio Furch.</p>
<p>In the semifinals, Atlas stole a 1-0 win at UNAM (again, a goal by Furch) before surviving a tough challenge from the Pumas who won 1-0 at the Jalisco. And again, a penalty claim (this one not called) benefited the Zorros who advanced on the 1-1 aggregate score line.</p>
<h2>‘The Green Machine’ revs up late</h2>
<p>León loves to attack, attack, attack, relying on an intricate pass-and-move system that features playmaking from all 10 field players. Wingers Angel Mena and Jean Meneses are particularly dangerous while Víctor Dávila led the team in scoring with 6 goals.</p>
<p>The focus on going forward is helped by a sturdy back line in front of Rodolfo Cota whose nine shutouts tied his Finals counterpart (Vargas) for most in Liga MX this season. The defense was doubly important this season since the offense struggled to find the net this season.</p>
<p>Since <a href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"https://www.tudn.mx/liga-mx/clip/resumen-atlas-derrota-2-0-a-leon-y-se-asalta-el-tercer-puesto?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=onebox%22>a 2-0 loss at Atlas back on Matchday 10</a>, the Esmeraldas conceded only 2 goals the rest of the way, riding six shut-outs to a 4-2-1 closing stretch to claim the No. 3 seed.</p>
<p>In the playoffs, <em>“La Fiera”</em> has used home field to make up first-leg deficits. León lost 2-1 at Puebla to open the quarterfinals before dominating at the Camp Nou (winning 2-0). In the first leg of the semifinals, León was lucky to return home just down 2-1 after the Tigres thoroughly dominated the match. Back at the Camp Nou, the Esmeraldas rode a 2-1 into the Finals (thanks to that Liga MX rule about higher seeds).</p>
<p>Mena has scored four of León’s five goals in the playoffs, matching his regular-season output.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Coach/playing style: León </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-490193" src=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1228793424-850x560.jpeg" alt="Liga MX final 1" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Ariel Holan has guided León to the Liga MX final in his very first season on the job. (Photo by ALEXANDRE SCHNEIDER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>Career arc of León coach is rather unusual</h3>
<p>One fact getting a lot of play in the Mexican sports media is that León coach Ariel Holan never played professional soccer. In fact, he started his coaching career in the sport of field hockey. But once he switched to <em>fútbol</em>, he showed he has the chops to lead, winning league titles in Argentina and Colombia before moving to Liga MX this season.</p>
<p>Holan continued with León’s now iconic style of play – constant vertical attacks. The attacking style was adopted by then-Esmeraldas coach Gustavo Matosas back in January 2012 when <em>“La Fiera”</em> was still in second division, shortly after the franchise was purchased by Grupo Pachuca. Legendary captain Luis Montes – a Pachuca academy product from Cd. Juárez – was sold to León shortly after Tuzos ownership completed the acquisition of the club in 2011 and he has been with the Esmeraldas ever since. His playmaking skills have been a key cog in the offense until this year when injuries limited his playing time.</p>
<p>In May 2021, <em>The Green Machine</em> won promotion to first division and three seasons later the <em>“club del Bajío”</em> won the first of two consecutive Liga MX titles (Apertura 2013, Clausura 2014).</p>
<p>After a few down seasons and a roster overhaul, Ignacio Ambriz arrived in late 2018 and led the franchise back to the top of the Liga MX. “Nacho” tweaked the attacking style by tasking his forwards with constant pressing duties and giving his fullbacks freedom to roam (not just up and down the flanks). For instance, right back Fernando Navarro at times drifted into a False 9 position.</p>
<p>In the past five full seasons, the Esmeraldas twice finished top of the table and reached two Liga MX finals, hoisting the Clausura 2020 trophy. So this team was loaded when Holan took over.</p>
<p>The 61-year-old Argentine has proven to be a good caretaker. After an uneven start, Holan began to get more comfortable with his roster though it took some time for new acquisitions Omar Fernández and Santiago Ormeño to settle into their roles (arguably, Ormeño has yet to fully do so).</p>
<p>Under Holan’s watch, León won its first international trophy (the Leagues Cup) and finished the season in third place, carrying the No. 3 seed through the playoffs and into another Liga MX Finals appearance, its seventh.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Coach/playing style: Atlas </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-490194" src=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1357377595-850x560.jpeg" alt="Liga MX final 1" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Diego Cocca joined Atlas as a player the season after the Zorros played in their last Liga MX Final in 1999. He is now only the second Atlas coach to guide his team to a Finals appearance. (Photo by Alfredo Moya/Jam Media/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>A Liga MX veteran as both player and coach</h3>
<p>Unlike his Finals counterpart, <a href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"https://www.dallasnews.com/espanol/al-dia/futbol/2021/12/06/atlas-final-diego-cocca-entrenador-tecnico-leon/">Atlas coach Diego Cocca</a> enjoyed a lengthy career as a player, including a brief stint with the Zorros (1999-2001). The 49-year-old started his coaching career in his native Argentina in 2007 and counts Santos Laguna and Tijuana as previous stops in Liga MX. Cocca took over the Zorros in August 2020 and has patiently worked with the club’s prolific academy system to develop reliable starters.</p>
<p>Grupo Orlegi – the business conglomerate that also owns Santos Laguna – purchased the Atlas franchise in May 2019 and has invested heavily in both field and front office.</p>
<p>Several Santos players found their address changed from Torreón to Guadalajara as Orlegi sought to establish a winning attitude in the locker room. Defenders Hugo Nervo, Jesús Angulo, José Abella and Jesús Isijara, as well as forwards Julio Furch and Brayan Garnica traded in their green-and-white hoops for Atlas red-and-black. Furch, Angulo, Abella and Isijara (now back with Santos) were key members of the Santos club that won the Liga MX title in May 2018.</p>
<p>With the new ownership group providing stability and exercising patience, Cocca knew he’d have time to implement his tactics, something he was not given at either of his two previous stops (13 games with Santos Laguna, six games with Tijuana).</p>
<p>With Nervo, Angulo and Anderson Santamaría in his stable, and Camilo Vargas in net, Cocca began building from back to front. With the acquisition of midfield bulldog Aldo Rocha in January 2021, the 5-3-2 (or 5-2-3) formation became the stock-and-trade of the Zorros.</p>
<p>The return of left back Luis Reyes (he’d been on loan to América) and the emergence of academy product Diego Barbosa added width to the defense with Rocha taking youngster Jeremy Márquez under his wing and teaching him to hunt in a pack.</p>
<p>The result is a suffocating defense that can flow forward from the wings and team up with the forward tandem of Julio Furch and Julián Quiñones who have quickly become a formidable duo in their first season together.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Odds and Ends </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-490195" src=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1311982511-850x560.jpeg" alt="Liga MX finals 1" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">León skipper Luis Montes will be playing in his fifth Liga MX Finals. That’s more than the entire Atlas team put together. (Photo by Refugio Ruiz/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>Will Liga MX playoff experience have an impact?</h3>
<p>León has a distinct advantage in postseason experience. Eight potential León starters played in the Guardianes 2020 final against UNAM, while only three Zorros have played in a Liga MX Final, and only two of those – Jesús Angulo and Julio Furch – are starters for Cocca.</p>
<p>León captain Luis Montes is expected to be fit for the Finals after missing 11 regular season games and seeing minimal action thus far in the playoffs. This is the fifth Liga MX Final for “El Chapo.” Eight other players on the Esmeraldas’ roster also played in the Clausura 2019 Finals loss to the Tigres.</p>
<p>In the other dugout, Atlas leans on several academy products, three of whom were not even born when the Zorros last played in a Liga MX Final (that came back in May 1999). Winger Jairo Torres, 21, midfielder Jeremy Márquez, 21, and substitute Christopher Trejo, 22 came up through the Atlas “School.”</p>
<p>Right back Diego Barbosa is also a system product, but at 25, he was nearly 3 when the Zorros lost to the Diablos Rojos in a penalty-kick shootout to miss out on the Verano 1999 trophy.</p>
<p>León’s roster averages 29 years of age while Atlas’ average is 25.7.</p>
<p>Atlas had not even been to a Liga MX semifinal series since 2004, so few Zorros players have ever been so deep into the playoffs.</p>
<h2>Formation variations</h2>
<p>Playing at home, León is likely to press the accelerator but coach Holan will decide the formation. The principle decision will be whether or not to use a center forward.</p>
<p>If the Esmeraldas use a true No. 9 (Santi Ormeño or Emmanuel Gigliotti), the line-up will be a 4-2-3-1 with the three attacking midfielders chosen from among Mena, Meneses, Fernández or Dávila. “El Chapo” Montes, Navarro and “Avión” Ramírez are alternatives.</p>
<p>Iván Rodríguez and Santiago Columbatti form a double pivot in front of the back four in this line-up.</p>
<p>Without a center forward, Holan has opted for Dávila as a False 9 and he works in tandem with Mena and Meneses (or Fernández) with the trio weaving through the defense and constantly shifting positions.</p>
<p>This 4-3-3 formation asks Ramírez and Columbatto to lean forward a bit more with Rodríguez shielding the back line.</p>
<p>As for Atlas, the variations are more subtle. The 5-2-3 features Furch in the middle of the attack, with Quiñones and Torres flanking him. Reyes on the left and Barbosa on the right press forward while the Rocha-Márquez duo attacks anything in a different color jersey going through the middle while the three-man central defense has become a fluid unit.</p>
<p>The modified line-up Cocca uses sees Angulo slide to left back with Reyes becoming more of a winger in a 4-4-2 with Furch and Quiñones playing off each other in attack and Jairo Torres serving as a right winger.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="El Tri ends year with desultory draw" data-url="https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/mexico-ends-2021-draw-chile/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/liga-mx-2021-final-atlas-leon/"https://playingfor90.com/2021/12/09/mexico-ends-2021-draw-chile/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> El Tri ends year with desultory draw </a> </div>
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<p>Cocca typically uses only two or three subs late, usually to protect the lead. Edgar Zaldivar spells Márquez while Christopher Trejo subs in for Quiñones. Anibal Chalá is available to add speed to the left side if the Zorros are chasing a goal.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">