La Liga

I've not had much to say about the opening weeks of the Mexican soccer league, basically because the horrible start from Chivas and Santos has left me dumbfounded. Neither team had a win through the first three weeks. Chivas won on Wednesday, but since it was a week six advance rescheduling, technically you could leave that in the present tense: neither team has a win through three weeks. Chivas has let two quality wins (against Monterrey and Cruz Azul) slip away with late goals, and I think they'll get it together once everyone gets used to playing without Michel, Bravo, and Rodríguez. Santos is a little more worrying. They just seem complacent after winning the title. They've had some injury problems, but they did last year as well, and they never looked this bad. We'll see if they improve when Ludueña returns, but right now it seems like their issues are deeper than one stud midfielder's absence.

Also, Guillermo Ochoa criticized Mexico's extensive use of nationalized foreigners on la selección. The large number of talented South Americans playing in Mexico combined with the relative weakness of the homegrown talent puts the program in a unique situation. You have lots of guys with extensive ties to Mexico who would be able to contribute on their national team but not on the Argentine or Brazilian sides. Sven-Goran has ramped up the use of naturalized Mexicans, too, calling up Matías Vuoso, Leandro Augusto, Sinha Naelson, and Guillermo Franco. Four foreign-born players is too many for one national team, in my view. I'm not sure there should be a rule against the practice, since it's not as extensive elsewhere, but it would be a shame if a Mexican team playing two Argentines and two Brazilians knocked a purely Nigerian (or Croatian or American) squad out of the World Cup.