| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexico Season More Unpredictable Than Ever
 Carlos Rodriguez - Associated Press
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January 16, 2010
Mexico City - Mexico’s football league is always wide open and the 2010 Clausura - which opens this weekend - may reach new extremes of unpredictability.
At the end of March, clubs are obligated by contract to cede their best players to a training camp as Mexico prepares for the World Cup in June in South Africa. Europe-based players will join only after their seasons end. All of this is sure to be destabilizing.
Then there are two continental and regional championships that will interrupt league play. Five Mexican clubs are playing in the Copa Libertadores, the South American championship. Mexico’s never had more than three clubs entered, and now it has Monterrey, Morelia, San Luis, Chivas and Estudiantes.
The CONCACAF Champions League is down to eight quarterfinalists, and four are from Mexico - Toluca, Pumas, Pachuca and Cruz Azul. They could possibly fill the semifinals, too.
Mexican football is always a carousel, and this Clausura season it will spin a bit quicker. The strongest teams are sure to lose the most players to the training camp, perhaps giving an edge to weaker clubs. This could anger loyal fans of the top clubs, who pay good money to see the best players.
Like most Latin American countries, Mexico divides the season into two parts; the Apertura, Spanish for opening; and the Clausura, which means closing. In Mexico, this means there’s an Apertura champion in December and a Clausura champion in the spring.
The league has had seven different champions in the last seven seasons, with Monterrey winning the Apertura. In the last 26 seasons, only one team - Pumas - has managed to win back-to-back titles. No team dominates the way Manchester United or Real Madrid or Bayern Munich have in their leagues.
The big loser this season could be America. Usually regarded as Mexico’s most important team - along with Chivas Guadalajara - the Mexico City club isn’t involved in the CONCACAF Champions League or Copa Libertadores. Add to that embarrassment the fact that it will lose three player to the Mexico World Cup training camp - Guillermo Ochoa, Oscar Rojas and Enrique Esqueda.
Pumas and Chivas could lose up to four players, and Cruz Azul seems sure to lose two - Gerardo Torrado and Jose Corona.
Some teams like Cruz Azul have tried to buy backup talent in the offseason.
Cruz Azul, losing finalists in three of the last four seasons, has spent $7 million to bring in Argentines Christian Gimenez (Pachuca) and Maxi Biancucci (Flamengo) and Brazilian Edcarlos Concencicao (Fluminense).
This seems to make Cruz the clear favorite.
Defending Apertura champion Monterrey also looks strong, although it has lost its top player Huberto Suazo to Spanish club Zaragoza.
Morelia should be competitive after signing Argentine Gabriel Pereyra from Atlante, and Toluca is another club that should be in the mix.
In the opening round this weekend, it’s: Jaguares vs. Cruz Azul, Monterrey vs. Ciudad Juarez, Pachuca vs. Estudiantes, Atlante vs. Queretaro, Chivas vs. Toluca, Puebla vs. Tigres, Pumas vs. Atlas, America vs. San Luis and Santos vs. Morelia.
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