Sunday may have been a bit more boring than most Liga MX fans anticipated.
After a total of 180 minutes, both of the second legs in the Liguilla semifinals ended in stodgy 0-0 draws. No goals, and to many, no excitement.
There's always plenty of embellishment when it comes to the build-up to these matches as well. Commercials constantly roaring about a "battle of titans" that are complemented with video clips of acrobatic saves and shots. The games on Sunday were expected to follow through with the hype, but in the end, were underwhelming.
Yet, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
Tigres' strategy could be criticized, but in the end, it worked. The team was recently chastised on social media for not winning a single match during the playoffs, but the tactics from head coach Ricardo Ferretti has been enough to get his team to the final. In fact, his coaching has lead his team to 14 games in a row without a loss. Tigres may have had four draws during the playoffs, but the team only allowed two goals during that stretch.
As for Club America, the team already had their 3-0 win from their first leg and nearly had a ticket to the finals before the second leg had even started. Las Aguilas didn't exactly sit back either during the second leg; the Mexico City squad put plenty of pressure on Monterrey and would have sneaked in a goal or two were it not for the great performance from Los Rayados' Jonathan Orozco in net.
Speaking of goalkeepers, all four had noteworthy appearances -- except for perhaps Orozco during the first semifinal leg.
The Tigres vs. Toluca semifinal matches at times looked like a competition between Nahuel Guzman and Alfredo Talavera in net. Although the attack from either team wasn't dominating, both keepers combined for a total of 19 shots stopped during the two legs.
Moises Munoz was first-rate for America in net and even Monterrey's Orozco couldn't be blamed for all three of America's goals in the first leg --two of which came through deflections.
Due to this, a lack of goals was very apparent during the semifinals. Will it be the same for the final two matches?
At the end of the season, America and Tigres both finished at the top of the league table with 31 points -- the only thing setting them apart was a slight goal differential that gave America the No. 1 spot. That slight difference will likely be the same story for the final. With the current form that each goalkeeper is in and the patterns seen from each respective team during their playoff runs, the final will be a close one.