{"id":48920,"date":"2026-09-10T16:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gambyl.com\/?p=48920"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:52:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:52:41","slug":"liga-mx-apertura-title-contenders-at-midseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gambyl.com\/en\/liga-mx\/liga-mx-apertura-title-contenders-at-midseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Liga MX Apertura: Title Contenders at Midseason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Toluca are continental champions.

On Saturday in Houston, they beat Monterrey 2-0<\/strong> to win the Leagues Cup (the first Liga MX club to lift the trophy in the tournament’s modern era), <\/strong>with goals from Alexis Vega after four minutes and Helinho after seventy.

They are also third in the Apertura, three points off the top, with ten rounds still to play.

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Here is where the title race actually stands after seven rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Table at Midseason<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Am\u00e9rica lead by 16 points<\/strong> from five wins and a draw. They did not play in Jornada 7 because of their own Leagues Cup commitments.

Guadalajara are second on 14 points.<\/strong>

Toluca, Tijuana, and Atlas are level on 13.<\/strong>

Cruz Azul sit sixth on 12.<\/strong> Then Quer\u00e9taro, Le\u00f3n and Puebla on 10 apiece.

At the bottom, Ju\u00e1rez remain on zero points after seven matches<\/strong>, a genuinely historic start for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toluca: The Contenders Who Just Won Something<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The most relevant development of the fortnight, and it happened outside the league.

Liga MX not only reached the Leagues Cup final: it filled all four semi-final places and occupied the top two positions<\/strong>. Monterrey knocked out Am\u00e9rica on penalties to reach a first-ever final. Le\u00f3n beat Am\u00e9rica 1-0 in the third-place match.<\/strong> Mexican clubs swept the podium.

Toluca won it, and the prize is bigger than the trophy.<\/strong> Victory secured them a place in the Round of 16 of the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup, which reshapes their next two seasons.

Why it matters for the Apertura:<\/strong> a squad that has just proved it can win knockout football is exactly the profile that wins a Liguilla. Mexican championships are not decided over seventeen rounds; they are decided in a two-legged bracket in December, where nerve matters more than accumulated points.

The risk is the same thing viewed differently.<\/strong> Toluca have played a full continental tournament on top of a domestic campaign, and they now face Atlas on Saturday with those minutes in their legs. Fixture congestion is how promising Aperturas fall apart in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am\u00e9rica: Top of the Table, and Bruised<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Guillermo Almada’s side lead the league and have not lost in it. That is the case for the defence.

The counter is what happened in Houston.<\/strong> Am\u00e9rica were eliminated by Monterrey on penalties in the Leagues Cup semi-final, then lost the third-place match 1-0 to Le\u00f3n. Two matches, two defeats, no trophy, and a game in hand in the league that now has to be squeezed into an already crowded calendar.

We wrote a fortnight ago that Almada was “doing it competently” and that competent is not what Am\u00e9rica’s ownership pays for. Leading the Apertura is a genuine achievement. Losing twice in four days at a continental tournament, to two Liga MX rivals, is the sort of week that follows a manager around.

They remain the favourites.<\/strong> Sixteen points from six matches is the best return in the league, and the squad is the deepest in Mexico. But they arrive at Saturday’s Cl\u00e1sico Joven having just been beaten twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chivas: Second, and Nobody Is Talking About It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Guadalajara are 14 points, in second place<\/strong>, and the quietest contenders in the country.

Their attack is the reason. Ricardo Mar\u00edn and Roberto Alvarado both have four goals<\/strong>, which makes Chivas the only club in the league with two players in the top seven of the scoring chart. In Jornada 5, they put five past Tijuana<\/strong> in a 5-2 win.

That balance (goals from more than one source) is what a title challenge normally looks like, and it is the thing Am\u00e9rica have not needed to prove yet because they have not been tested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cruz Azul: The Recovery We Did Not Expect<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A fortnight ago we called Cruz Azul’s position “the most serious problem in the division.” They had lost three consecutive matches, most recently 2-0 at home to Atlas, and sat outside the playoff places. We wrote that a fourth straight defeat would mean “the conversation stops being about form.”

They are now sixth on 12 points and back inside the top six.<\/strong>

That is a faster recovery than we projected, and it is worth saying plainly. A club with Cruz Azul’s resources should not have been in that position, and they should be roughly where they are now, but three-match losing runs in Mexican football have ended seasons before, and this one did not.

They host Am\u00e9rica on Saturday.<\/strong> First against sixth, and the biggest fixture of the round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tijuana and Atlas: The Two the Market Still Doubts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Atlas were second after five rounds and are still on 13 after seven.<\/strong> We asked at the time whether they would hold. Halfway through the tournament, they have.

Tijuana are the newer story.<\/strong> They were beaten 5-2 by Chivas in Jornada 5 and have climbed to 13 points anyway, with Gilberto Mora on four goals<\/strong> among the league’s leading scorers.

Neither club is built like the ones above them, and both will be expected to fade. The format is what makes them dangerous: the top six go straight to the Liguilla quarter-finals<\/strong> and seventh through tenth must survive a play-in. A mid-table side that banks points early can buy itself a bye that its squad depth could never earn in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Golden Boot Has a Runaway Leader<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The race that was wide open a fortnight ago has a clear leader.

Salom\u00f3n Rond\u00f3n (Pachuca) has seven goals in seven matches<\/strong>, having scored again in Jornada 7 to move two clear.

Lucas Ocampos (Monterrey) is second on five<\/strong> and had no league action last weekend; he was playing in the Leagues Cup final.

Behind them, a group of four on four goals<\/strong>: Ricardo Mar\u00edn<\/strong> and Roberto Alvarado<\/strong> (Chivas), Gilberto Mora<\/strong> (Tijuana), Santiago Homenchenko<\/strong> (Quer\u00e9taro) and Juli\u00e1n Carranza<\/strong> (Necaxa). Carranza had the chance to join Ocampos on five and missed a penalty against Tigres<\/strong> in Necaxa’s 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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