The Liga MX Apertura 2024 regular season is over and the field is set for the start of La Liguilla on the other side of the international break.
The big four teams in Mexican soccer, Cruz Azul, Pumas, Club América and Chivas, all made it to the dance, so did the northeast powerhouses Monterrey and Tigres. Toluca finished second and will look to end a 14 year championship draught. The two surprises of the season, Atlético San Luis and Tijuana, are sure to be tough outs in elimination games.
The play-in games will determine the last two quarterfinal spots available. Tijuana, América, Chivas and Atlas will battle it out in an NBA like elimination round to determine the rivals that will square up against the top seeded Cruz Azul and Toluca.
La Liguilla promises to deliver the best soccer of the Liga MX season and here are the 10 teams that will battle it out for the Apertura 2024 title—ranked.
10. Atlas
Los Rojinegros enter the playoffs as the clear underdog. Beñat San Jose's team managed to get the last play-in spot; however, it'll have to win two games on the road to reach the quarterfinals.
Atlas was the definition of mediocre during the regular season. It finished with a 5W-7D-5L record, never being able to fully establish itself in the higher echelon of the league. Most of it's success will be dependent on Colombian goalkeeper, Camilo Vargas, one of the few remaining pieces of the Atlas teams that won back-to-back Liga MX titles two years ago.
In any case, El Clásico Tapatio against Chivas with elimination on the line promises to be a very exciting game.
9. Tijuana
Juan Carlos Osorio did a brilliant job to take Tijuana back to the playoffs for the first time in over a decade and a half. The turnaround this season has been a welcomed surprise for a team that made a habit of finishing near the bottom of the league in recent years.
Tijuana's lack of major individual talent will be a problem, though. It's a team filled with young players without much, if any playoff experience. Even if it manages to get past the play-in stage, a deep playoff run seems way to optimistic. The border city team managed just one victory against the top 10 teams in the league, making the prospect of a title charge look very unlikely.
8. Chivas
Fernando Gago's departure midseason was a tough blow for a team that was playing some of the best soccer in Mexico—results withstanding—under the Argentine's management. In any case, Chivas did well to at least make it to the playoffs despite all of the turmoil.
Facing a Clásico Tapatio to avoid elimination and the prospect of playing El Clásico Nacional vs. América with a quarterfinal spot on the line might be too much for Arturo Ortega's side. The interim coach has managed to keep his team afloat during the final weeks of the season; however, a title charge looks highly unlikely given the current circumstances.
7. Atlético San Luis
San Luis nearly doubled its points tally from last season and did it playing very good soccer, especially at home where it won every match aside from one draw. It's a solid, compact team that knows how to mask its weaknesses and magnify its strengths.
The lack of individual quality along with having to play the second leg of its playoff matchups on the road makes it hard to envision a real title run. It'll face Tigres in the quarterfinal in what promises to be a very tough matchup for the winningest team in Liga MX over the past decade. San Luis will be a tough out for any opponent on this list.
6. Pumas
Fourth on the table but only sixth on this list. Gustavo Lema did a good job taking over from Antonio Mohammed as Pumas improved from last season. It's a gritty, competitive, high-intensity team that covers the length and width of the pitch. It's a disciplined side that makes few mistakes and also capitalizes on its scoring chances.
Pumas won't be easy to beat in 180 minutes and it definitely wouldn't be a surprise if it gets past Monterrey in the quarterfinals. A first league title in 13 years isn't out of the question for the fourth most popular team in Mexico.
5. Club América
A team that doesn't even have its place in the quarterfinal secured being this high might come as a surprise, but América isn't any run of the mill team, it's the reigning back-to-back champion in Liga MX.
André Jardine hasn't lost a playoff matchup ever since he became the club's manager over a year ago and although results were up and down during the regular season, the squad has more than enough quality to beat any team on this list. It'll have two chances to qualify for the quarterfinals, if it makes it, Las Águilas immediately become a nightmare of a matchup for any team they face.
4. Monterrey
Martín Demichelis's side has arguably the best roster in all of Mexico and he's seemingly found his best lineup at the perfect time, with former Real Betis player, Sergio Canales leading the charge.
Rayados has under-delivered in recent tournaments, failing to reach the final and getting bounced by teams with inferior individual quality. It remains to be seen if this is the season where the team puts it all together in the playoffs, if it does, then a sixth Liga MX trophy becomes a very real possibility.
3. Tigres
No team has had more playoff success than Tigres over the past decade. Father time is coming for club legends such as André-Pierre Gignac, Nahuel Guzmán and Rodolfo Pizarro, so there's increased desire for this core of players that have turned Tigres into a domestic giant to lift one more trophy before it's all said and done.
Still one of the most solid overall teams with a prolific roster filled with abundant talent in all areas, Veljko Paunović's men are well positioned for a run at the team's sixth Liga MX title in the Gignac era.
2. Toluca
Renato Paiva's team was formidable during the regular season, playing an electrifying, attacking brand of soccer, spearheaded by the Apertura 2024 golden boot winner: Paulinho.
A lot more would be said of Toluca's brilliant season had it not been for the team that occupies the top spot on this list. Regardless, Los Diablos Rojos enter the playoffs as the No. 2 seed coming off a 4-0 dismantling of América to end it's great regular season. It wouldn't shock anyone if the season ended with Toluca hoisting the trophy.
1. Cruz Azul
The overwhelming favorite to lift the trophy at season's end is the team that just set a new regular season points record in Liga MX: Cruz Azul.
Martín Anselmi's side lost only once in the Apertura 2024 after falling in the final vs. América a season ago. No team in Mexico understands its system or has played better over the past five months than Cruz Azul – by a considerable margin.
La Máquina overpowered the rest of the league during the regular season, playing like one of the best ever teams in Mexican soccer. If it manages to maintain its recent form during the playoffs, it's hard to envision any other outcome than a 10th Liga MX title for the blue team in Mexico City.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liga MX Apertura 2024 Playoff Teams: Ranked.
