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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2006 
The World Cup Looms Large over Mexico's '06 Clausura
 ABC News
| | If Cuauhtémoc Blanco stays home during the World Cup, he could be what lifts América to its second Clausura title in two years. (AP) |
Don't look now, but another Mexican season is already upon us. And while it seems the frenzied madhouse that will undoubtedly be the Clausura 2006 season will resemble other wild, unpredictable Mexican campaigns, it won't.
Seasons like this come around just once every four years. This year the World Cup will be on everybody's minds.
The biggest show in soccer won't directly influence which teams flop and which teams succeed, but to say that it won't affect the season is foolish. Some clubs have a lot of players who figure to be in Germany; others have none. Who is hurt and who is helped by World Cup absences remains to be seen, but it will be another obstacle on the way to the championship.
Since Mexico began playing shortened seasons, the World Cup has interrupted the end of the Verano/Clausura season twice, and both times teams have had to deal with absentee internationals. In the Verano '98 season, Necaxa and Toluca were easily the best teams that season and met in the final.
The difference proved to be the World Cup players: Necaxa was missing Mexican natives Luis Hernández and Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who combined for 16 goals that season, while Toluca had Paraguay's José Cardozo (a league-high 13 goals) and Chile's Fabian Estay available, even though Salvador Carmona and Jaime Ordiales were alongside Blanco and "El Matador" in Europe. Toluca took the championship on a 6-4 aggregate.
Four years later, Necaxa reached the final again, this time against Club América. Hernandez was missing again, except this time he was with América, which was also without Germán Villa. The Eagles, however, beat Necaxa (which played the final without Braulio Luna). The big loser in '02, however, was Santos, which lost to Necaxa in the semifinals without the services of scoring ace Jared Borgetti.
This year, two clubs stand a lot to lose. The regular season is scheduled to finish on April 29 and, unless the league can get the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals played before May 15, at least the finals will be contested between two teams that will not have their World Cup-bound players at their disposal. FIFA will not allow World Cup players to participate in club games after May 15, the sole exception being the Champions League final.
So just who will be the unlucky participants that will lose out because of the World Cup? Here's how the Clausura '06 season will shake down.
CONTENDERS: Chivas, América, Toluca, Tigres. Chivas re-tooled their roster with a trio of standout players, while the youth system continues to churn out products. If one club can overcome the absence of up to five starters, it's Chivas.
América, meanwhile, had a monster regular season before collapsing in the playoffs and will surely be much more focused this season. Champion Toluca won its first title in the post-Cardozo era and figures to challenge for the hardware again. Tigres has perhaps the league's best offense and already started the year off in a successful manner, winning InterLiga '06 and qualifying directly for the Copa Libertadores. |
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