MEXICO CITY (AP) — With goals from Rogelio Funes Mori and Arturo González inside 10 minutes of the first half, Monterrey beat Querétaro 2-0 on Wednesday and regained top spot in Mexico’s Clausura tournament.
‘Mellizo’ Funes Mori opened the scoring in the 25th minute and ‘Ponchito’ González sealed the game in the 35th minute for the Rayados, who secured their sixth consecutive win.
Funes Mori, born in Argentina but selected for Mexico at Qatar 2022, has six goals and continues to escort Henry Martín of America, who has nine, in the goalscoring chart.
González scored for the fourth game in a row, the longest streak of his career and has five goals, one less than his maximum record as a professional set in the 2018 Clausura tournament.
Led by veteran Víctor Manuel Vucetich, Monterrey have not lost since the first meeting and accumulate 18 points which allow them to close the seventh meeting at the top of the table, no matter what happens in the two remaining games. .
Los Gallos Blancos suffered their third defeat of the tournament where they are one of three teams without a win and remain with three points, in 16th place out of 18 teams.
CHIVAS DREAM OF DIRECT LEAGUE
Víctor Guzmán converted a few goals from the penalty spot and Chivas won 2-1 against Tijuana to stay in the fight and qualify directly for the league.
Argentina’s Federico Lertora gave the Xolos the lead at 26 minutes, but ‘Pocho’ Guzmán equalized from 11 at 39 and from there he scored the winning goal at 89.
With this result, Guadalajara led by the Serb Veljko Paunovic brings its series of matches without defeat to four and the “Sacred Flock” ranks fifth in the standings.
In Mexico, only the top four teams advance directly to the league. The next eight advance to a knockout phase to complete the quarter-finals.
Paunovic is in his first tournament in Mexico and is looking to, at least, qualify Chivas for what would be his third league since he was last champion in the 2017 Clausura.
Tijuana, which is now managed by Miguel Herrera, remains with seven units in 13th place in the table.
The “Piojo” Herrera arrived last Friday at the Xolos after being left out of the race to lead the Mexican team.