Alejandro Zendejas, contemporary off worldwide responsibility with the U.S. males’s nationwide workforce, is again with Membership América to battle the Chivas in Liga MX on Saturday.
(Simon Barber through Getty Photos)
Does the fighter from Guadalajara nonetheless have it? Or will or not it’s revealed Saturday simply how far the legend has fallen within the pecking order? On Mexican Independence Day weekend, sports activities followers throughout a continent will tune in to seek out out — however they’ll have a alternative.
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Mexican boxing legend goes head-to-head with , however the combat will go head-to-head with crucial match in Mexican soccer: The rivalry recreation between Membership América and Chivas de Guadalajara.
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This 12 months’s Clásico Nacional pits an undefeated América towards a struggling Chivas, however the recreation nearly all the time delivers drama and powerful play. Chivas have underperformed their underlying analytics this season and are hoping a resurgence begins with a highway rivalry win.
Mexican soccer officers noticed the conflict between the match and the beloved native son’s combat occurring for weeks. El Clásico was initially scheduled for Friday night time, permitting soccer to take heart stage earlier than Saturday’s combat.
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However Televisa, Mexico’s largest TV firm, owns Membership América along with its TV networks, and after executives did not discover a rights settlement to place the combat on over-the-air TV in Mexico, the rivalry matchup was moved to Saturday night time at 9 p.m. native time/11 p.m. ET. It will likely be proven on Canal 5, a broadcast community additionally owned by Televisa, in Mexico and Univision within the U.S. whereas the boxing match is offered solely on in each nations.
It’s the first time in 16 years that one among Alvarez’s fights received’t be on broadcast TV in Mexico. The fighter himself mentioned he hopes future fights received’t be behind a paywall, and, in an interview with boxing web site Izquierdazo mentioned “dangerous communication” led to Saturday’s bout being subscriber-exclusive.
A Saturday night time showdown is on faucet with Canelo Alvarez defending his undisputed tremendous middleweight title towards Terence Crawford, whereas América-Chivas goes down in Mexico Metropolis.
(Ethan Miller through Getty Photos)
The choice to maneuver América’s showdown with Chivas seems like a logical one. Popping out of a global break, each groups might be reintegrating gamers — a few of whom returned to coaching solely Thursday after suiting up for his or her nationwide groups. América additionally has constantly run into battle with native officers who govern the borough the place the Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes sits. Their short-term residence whereas the Estadio Azteca is being reworked, the stadium sits in a neighborhood, and the native mayor has ordered matches be performed behind closed doorways after perceived infractions by the short-term tenants.
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Getting the match performed in entrance of a sold-out crowd, and placing it at a primary time for the Mexican and Mexican American TV audiences took precedence. Even the truth that the sport is being performed on Independence weekend looks like progress.
The NFL kicked off its season final week with the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles enjoying a rivalry recreation towards the Dallas Cowboys, probably the most marketable groups within the league. The joke in Mexican soccer circles for years has been that Liga MX usually kicks off its season with probably the most uninteresting matches: This event kicked off with provincial membership Puebla internet hosting Atlas, a workforce that missed the playoffs, in entrance of 11,433 followers.
Along with placing huge matches like América-Chivas on a vacation weekend, the league has labored to package deal Clásicos collectively or typically strikes the highlight so a essential recreation is the one one being performed at a sure time of the weekend — ways utilized by different leagues for many years however that also really feel contemporary in Liga MX.
But, it’s additionally troublesome to not see El Clásico Nacional switching to Saturday — and kicking off at a time that nearly definitely will overlap with the combat — as a confrontation with Canelo. The rankings may show whether or not or not the urge for food for historically big soccer matches is as big because it as soon as was.
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Mexican soccer might not like what it sees. Like boxing and different sports activities properties all over the world, Mexican soccer more and more is trying to find one of the simplest ways to ship its product to viewers whereas nonetheless extracting most income. Rights offers for Liga MX are agreed by team-by-team, fairly than in a league-wide deal like most leagues all over the world. That has led to some groups — together with Chivas — going with companions that put matches behind paywalls on streaming providers.
After a long time of recognition and being the most important recreation on the town, Mexican soccer more and more is having to ask itself easy methods to get in entrance of followers and easy methods to persuade them to go to the stadium.
Boxing has its personal questions in Mexico, with the fixed quest to seek out the famous person that can observe Canelo. However the Jalisco native, whose coach Eddy Reynoso is a mega-fan of Chivas’ Guadalajara rival Atlas, stays an enormous draw.
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For now, it seems Liga MX is raring to measurement Canelo up and face off with him instantly. The story of the tape exhibits two formidable opponents squaring off, with neither more likely to land a knockout blow. Followers will cut up display screen, discover highlights and work out methods to devour each. By forcing followers to decide on or to get inventive, although, Mexican soccer seems like an previous fighter, stepping into the ring wanting assured however internally hoping they’ve nonetheless received it and might cling for the total 12 rounds.