Rayados Win Interliga, Tecos Move Toward Copa

Monterrey and Estudiantes Tecos advanced out of Interliga 2010 and into Copa Libertadores are their wins in Wednesday's finals.

Estudiantes came back from two goals down to post a 3-2 win over Group A-winner Puebla, while the Rayados needed penalty kicks to beat Club América.

The result gives Monterrey the Interliga title and direct entry into Copa Lib's group stage.  Estudiantes earned a chance to join them, now into third-round Libertadores qualifying.

The result also leaves both group winners out of Libertadores.  Club América and Puebla had been the tournament's best teams, but in the win-and-in scenario of the finals, both teams must now shift their entire focus to the eminent Bicentenario.

I say "tournament's best teams," but after Wednesday's results, Monterrey (eight points) has the tournament's best record.  Tecos (seven points) has the same record as América:  2-1-1.

Once Tecos got past their opening match loss to Atlante, they played great football.  They rolled through Santos, won a draw with América, and then orchestrated a great comeback against Puebla.

That comeback saw Tecos come back from a 2-0 deficit (Acosta 4', Olivera 47') thanks to Rodrigo Ruíz, whose Wednesday brace claimed for him the title of tournament's best player.  Ruíz scored in the 51st minute to quickly answer Nicolas Olivera's goal, and in the 81st minute El Pony made Rubens Sambueza's work pay-off with the equalizer.

Sambueza would score the game-winning goal in the 89th minute to shock Puebla, whose previous Interliga loss came after they had won Group B (and were resting many starters).

In addition to finishing tied for the tournament's goal scoring lead, Ruíz ends up being the answer to the key question surrounding Tecos:  What happened, between losing while a man-up against Atlante, and the final that would find this club - who entered the tournament as the Group A club with the worst Apertura record - in Libertadores?

Ruíz did not start the Atlante match, but put in the lineup for the Santos match, he turned around Estudiantes' tournament.  Beyond the four goals in three matches, he provided an energy Tecos lacked through most of the Atlante maatch.  When Ruíz came on late in that game, his creativity and effort immediately chanced the tone.  Starting every match since, he led the team to second place.

Ruíz had only one open play goal in the Apertura.  His goal eruption is an example of one of the things that makes tournament football so compelling.  In the context of a league season, a sudden upsurge in form eventually gets overwhelmed by the sample.  In a short tournament, it becomes the captivating, remembered story.

Interliga 2010 will always be the tournament where a 37-year-old Chilean playmaker's revival got his team to South America.  That he did so against the team with whom he started his career in México 18 years ago is but a footnote.

The Ruíz story may have overshadowed even an excited night cap, but there was no need for debate after Wednesday's finale.

Monterrey, in their second match without Humberto Suazo, played Club América to a nil-nil stalemate, sending the match to penalty kicks.  Once there, the Rayados converted all three of their tries while América could only beat Jonathan Orozco once.  

Despite being shutout twice in four matches, the Rayados win Interliga thanks to a 2-2-0 record.

As Apertura champions, even a Suazo-less Monterrey is a worthy representative in Copa.  If they can take some of the reported €10 million they got for El Chupete and invest in replacements, they could arguably be better prepared for a long, transcontinental competition.

That's the glass half-full view.

The glass half-empty:  Monterrey scored only three goals in four matches, two of which came in second-half stoppage time.  Their entire time playing with a lead:  a little over a minute.  One of their two wins came against a Puebla team playing only half of their starters.  The other was their penalty-kick victory over América.

It's difficult to argue Monterrey was the tournament's best team, and having sold their best attacking player, their Interliga form may carry forward.  Though they won the tournament, they are unlikely to be as dangerous in Copa as Club América would have been.

A particularly disappointed observer might make a similar argument about Puebla and Tecos.  Looking at their Apertura form, the body of their Interliga results, and the manner in which they won their matches, you could content Puebla is more likely to be successful in Copa than Tecos.  That may, however, miss the point.

As fans, we look on Interliga as a gateway to South America.  We want the best teams to make it to Copa, so we ascribe that as the purpose of the tournament.  Do it's not.  

The tournament gave two teams spots in Libertadores, but it does not claim those teams to be the two, objective best.  All is does is claim those two teams won the spots.  While it would be nice if those two teams happen to be México's best representatives for South America, the paradox of allocating disproportionate rewards to small-sample-size outcomes means we may always question the viability of Interliga's winners.