Liga MX: ESPN specialists give their predictions about the Liguilla

We present you the forecasts of the ESPN specialists for the duels of the quarterfinals of Clausura 2022

MEXICO.- The quarterfinals of the Closure 2022 are about to start and for the talents of ESPN They have their predictions for the league of the MX League. The series starts this Wednesday, where eight teams will seek the title of champion.

Jorge Pietrasanta, Jared Borgetti and Dionisio Estrada already have their favorite in the first phase, and José Luis Sánchez Solá prefers to wait for what happens in the first leg to define it.

We present you the forecasts of the specialists of ESPN for the Closing League 2022.

JORGE PIETRASANTA

Athletic Saint Louis

Strengths: “In addition to the great work of his coach, André Jardine, who got to that: to work, he puts everyone in his place, without putting him, without moving him much, and takes advantage of the experience of his players, especially two : Sambueza and Facundio Waller; he doesn’t use them all the time, or together, and when he does it works for him. Suddenly he puts one, then he puts the other, and both have had a very good season, and Jardine has taken advantage of this situation very well to put together a good squad. Back also has good things, with the performances of Barovero and Unai Bilbao; Berterame’s scoring youth is at the forefront and the arrival of Venezuelan John Murillo has gone down very well with the team. This combination has allowed San Luis to weigh as a local, something that the previous tournaments had not done; that is a new strength of the team”.

weaknesses: “It could be Jardine’s ignorance of the league; I always say this about the technicians who just arrived, but sometimes it works very well for them and they know how to work it wonderfully. Also a little bit the lack of squad, that although they have Abel Hernández on the bench, there are not so many benches to be able to solve some problems”.

key player: “Everyone is going to tell me that it is Rubens Sambueza, but I put Waller; in the moments in which it was necessary to take out a shoe and score a great goal, he did it; or had to appear towards the defensive did; or on offense he did. He plays very well down the side, he plays very well on the loose.”

Pachuca

Strengths: “The dynamics. Guillermo Almada has a team like he had in Santos. He knows how to put it together perfectly, he knows how to work it to make it a very dynamic team, powerful in speed. Suddenly he looks half-accelerated, but it works for him, and that’s what earned him the general leadership, which no one was going to take away from him on the last date. He stopped pressing the accelerator against Pumas in CU, because he already knew that he had the first place, despite the fact that he used almost the entire team. I think Pachuca relaxed. His dynamics and speed can hurt any team in the league.”

weaknesses: “That at the moment I feel accelerated to the team. He happened to Almada in Santos, who did not lower the decibels and that ended up harming him; he didn’t know how to win the league with Santos when there was a squad for it; Those are Almada’s teams. In relation to the players and the experience that various elements have in San Luis, it could harm them, suddenly being so fast”.

key player: “I think the key to continue advancing and for Almada himself may be behind, with his goalkeeper Óscar Ustari. There is a lot of experience in that goalkeeper; for me he is one of the best in the league.”

Forecast: Atletico de San Luis passes

“San Luis can give a great surprise, because it is one of those teams that arrive quietly, that nobody thinks they can do anything. They were not favorites against Monterrey at all and they won the game on penalties, and it was a team that nothing happened at home. I think he had one of the worst streaks in history of not winning at home, and Jardine came and that was the first thing he worked on. If you don’t weigh at home you can’t do anything. The first game could be key. I think San Luis could give the big surprise of the league and win the series.

JARED BORGETTI

Chivas

Strengths: “The emotional moment you are experiencing is super important; After changing the coach, that motivation arose to want to change everything that was wrong. From the hand of Ricardo Cadena they have let go more, they have done things better and the emotional part has been an important part for Chivas to have obtained good results and that it has been enough to qualify, of course, added to the tactical part. But I attribute more than that to the psychic and emotional part of wanting to reverse everything bad.

weaknesses: “I could say that at a given moment that emotional part may be left aside and they want to return to the previous thing, that they feel that they are better, that they feel that they have already achieved everything, the part of feeling satisfied; That is something that the coaching staff has to work hard on so that this team does not feel satisfied with what it has already achieved, but rather continues fighting to get as far as possible”.

key player: “Indisputably, Alexis Vega. His contract extension gave him great motivation, which is super important. Having a player with these characteristics at a good moment and more than at a good moment, with self-confidence, gives the rest of the squad a lot of confidence. Unfortunately, Angulo’s injury may reduce a bit the options that the coach may have to win the match or the series”.

Atlas

Strengths: “It has many bases; he is the defending champion. He has a coach (Diego Cocca) who knows the squad very well. Although it is true, he was not the same as last tournament, they have been solid; They qualified in the top four and have a very balanced roster. They are not simply based on the part of the moment, but on the part of the work, of the preparation of the matches. They have more fundamentals to, from my point of view, be the favorites for this series.”

weaknesses: “It is understanding that they are playing a classic and that the rival in front of them in history can beat them and feel that, to a certain extent, Chivas’ moment can be better than theirs and beat them, and not knowing that they have football much more understood and that they have been doing practically the same thing for a year and that it has been good. The moment they stop seeing the rival better than them, that will work against them a lot”.

key player: “If Julio Furch is fine, if he is in love with the goal, he will be key. He has experience, he has been a champion with Santos and was fundamental in the title won by Atlas. All the players will know that they have in him a figure that can do damage at any time: in a cross, in a play inside the area; they know they can count on him, and that he will respond.”

Forecast: Pass Atlas

“It is based on what has been seen in recent months: the regularity that Atlas has had, which is much better than that of Chivas. Atlas football has been more consistent and has bases. Chivas have had more good than bad with Cadena and I think that the emotional aspect plays very hand in hand with the team, and the soccer aspect is more with Atlas; That’s why I’m sticking with Atlas, although the moment you live in is super important and you might think that Chivas’ mood is better, but it’s a classic and many things go into it; but I go for Atlas”.

JOSE LUIS SANCHEZ SOLÁ

Puebla

Strengths: “With a full squad, its strength is that it has eight multi-functional players, which means that they can play you as a winger, or a containment player, or a midfielder, or a center back who can play a containment role for you, or lanes who can play you at the back of the striker. Another strength is that in 10 dates of the season they were leaders; So, they have to recover the memory of those parties that made them leaders”.

weaknesses: “That their two lanes: Ferrareis and Araujo have a very slow return and then, when you attack them from the outside, the central defenders have to come out and by doing so, the center is left very unoccupied and that is a weakness in Puebla’s strategy”.

key player: “The team. Because Marrufo may be fine, but Araujo isn’t fine anyway, or Segovia isn’t fine… So, Puebla relies totally and 100 percent on the team”.

America

Strengths: “That they play freer, they feel looser, they feel more of a team, they feel less pressured without the figure of Santiago Solari. The new coach (Fernando Ortiz) risks his career in Mexico with this opportunity and the players, in some way, their justification for playing for the team. It is a great squad, much more complete than Tigres, than Cruz Azul, than Monterrey; you have more to choose from. Another strength is that Pedro Aquino is returning to the starting lineup, plus he has Roger playing for his coach and has found in Viñas the slump that Henry Martín had. The defense feels more protected by the work of Aquino and Sánchez, and they have morale in America mode”.

weaknesses: “If they win Aquino’s back, it is very easy to violate his defense. Within his virtues are his defects. His virtue is midfield, but if you put yourself in front of Cáceres or any of his central defenders, you can violate it”.

key player: “Aquinas, without a doubt; he makes a very important partnership with Sánchez and every time he plays, América wins 75 percent of the points; That’s how it happened with Solari”.

Forecast: Who wins the first game

“What happens in this series? That depends on what happens in the first game. A first finalist could come out of this series, that is, this series is very defining, with two teams at a very good time, with approaches or homogeneous ways of behaving on the pitch. It’s a very even series.”

DIONYS ESTRADA

tigers:

Fortress: “He is strong from midfield forward and although many people criticize him because they say he receives many goals, it should be noted that, with 20 against, he was among the best five defensive players. The volume of his game and the number of goals he scores is his strength, beyond Gignac, who is a full stop”.

Soft spot: “It is usually inconsistent; today he can defend very well and tomorrow he can defend you horribly”.

key player: “Gignag. He is the one who makes the difference always.”

Blue Cross

Strengths: “I don’t feel like I have many; What’s more, I don’t see something that stands out in Cruz Azul. He doesn’t score goals, he doesn’t defend well”.

Soft spot: “It shows lack in all the lines, removing the goal nothing else (which Sebastián Jurado defends). It is a team that does not defend well, that suffers a lot in games and is not forceful. He doesn’t generate much and what little he has he doesn’t put into it”.

key player: “In Cruz Azul it does not exist. They don’t have a player who makes a difference and the one they had is injured: Carlos Rodríguez”.

Forecast: Pasa Tigres

“If the logic is given, Tigres must pass; first, because he has the table position in his favor. You don’t even need to win the entire series; second, because he achieved 10 victories (he is the second best, after Pachuca); third because in relation to Cruz Azul, it had fewer losses in the tournament; fifth, because Cruz Azul proved not to be a good local team and Tigres as visitors had five wins out of nine games; it is more regular in terms of home and away wins. Cruz Azul is very inconsistent, with only three away wins. In addition, Tigres has a better squad and throughout the tournament it showed in several sections of it to play soccer well, and in Cruz Azul we can hardly find a game that you say: this 90-minute game is an example of what the team could be forever”.