Soccer: Mexico's Liga MX "Liguilla" Playoffs Underway

As I mentioned on this blog the other day, North American sports leagues seem to have this predilection for post-season playoffs to determine their champions, as opposed to other places which just let the regular season champions reign supreme.  Mexican soccer is no exception, and even goes one step further...their premier league, Liga MX, divides the year up into two split seasons: the Apertura in the fall and the Clausura in winter/spring.  The regular season for the Apertura is over...so here come the playoffs!

The eight highest finishing teams in the regular season standings (out of a total of 18 league teams) make the playoffs.  Each round has the paired off teams playing each other twice (at each other's home field) with the one amassing the highest two-game cumulative goal total advancing to the next round.  The quarterfinals began a couple of days ago, with their second games starting today.  So far, the first four games have all been very close, with two decided by one goal and two ending up in draws.  The big surprise so far has been with "superlider" regular season champion América losing 1-0 to its Mexico City cross-town rival UNAM "Pumas", seeded 8th.  But with the concluding games of this round, it's all up in the air as to which teams will advance...the regular season champ is clearly still in the running.  I've been following the talk on the Spanish-language television sports channel Univision Deportes and there's a lot of excitement in the air.  América, as I said before, is playing Pumas.  Also, it's Toluca vs. Chiapas "Jaguares", UANL "Tigres" vs. Pachuca, and Atlas vs. Monterrey.  I'm rooting for Pachuca in the championship series, but fear that they won't get past Tigres in this weekend's game (they drew 1-1 in the first game)...my gut feeling also tells me that Tigres, based in Nuevo Leon, will eventually win the Apertura championship this year...