The two men who will be in the technical area Thursday for the first leg of the Liga MX final will be familiar to even the most casual fan of Mexican soccer. Tigres boss Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti and America coach Ricardo La Volpe have been around the block, and they have plenty in common beyond their long-standing work in the Mexican game.
For one, there's the prickly exterior. While both have their lighthearted moments, it's safe to say neither loves the press. They're far more focused on their teams. Despite both having their own distinct playing style, they're still obsessed with each detail within their team. The changes they make generally aren't wholesale overhauls, but rather subtle tweaks. Both men have coached the Mexican national team, though Ferretti did so only briefly, and each Ricardo has more than two decades in coaching in Mexico.
And, of course, they both have prodigious mustaches.
So which manager has the upper hand in the tactical battle the two-legged final? The similarities continue.
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Both men have big questions in two areas: the right side of defense and the center of the field. For La Volpe, bringing U.S. international Ventura Alvarado back from obscurity (just before he moves north to join Santos Laguna) has been a savvy touch, and putting faith in 19-year-old Edson Alvarez as the right center back in his 5-3-2 system has largely paid off as well.
Yet neither Chivas nor Necaxa in the first two rounds of the Liguilla posed the type of attacking threat that Javier Aquino does down the left wing for Tigres, along with Andre-Pierre Gignac roaming up top and troubling the center backs.
For Ferretti, he's had to replace injured right back Israel Jimenez, one of the stalwarts of his staunch back line. Jorge Estrada was serviceable but not phenomenal against Leon, and America may look to get left wing back Miguel Samudio forward as much as possible.
The other question is whether Rubens Sambueza will also play on the left, with the Argentine playmaker another potential headache for Estrada to cope with next to center-back pairing Hugo Ayala and Juninho. In the middle for Tigres, it's probably going to be the same as it was against Leon, though Lucas Zelarayan could step in to give a more attacking look. That would be a surprise in a first leg that might see both managers playing a bit more conservative, at least for the opening portion. Of course, Ferretti also could put Jesus Duenas, deployed as a defensive midfielder next to Guido Pizarro in the semifinal, at right back in place of Estrada.
It's interesting to think about Ferretti pondering his picks each night before he goes to bed or as the team has trained for weeks knowing that the final awaited. Knowing the veteran coach, however, it's just as likely that he decided on his squad Dec. 4, the day he learned America would be the final opponent, and hasn't wavered from it since. If there's one thing that perhaps planted a seed of doubt, it's that in Ferretti's eight finals in Mexico, his teams have won the away leg just once without the aid of penalties.
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La Volpe still has a more difficult task than his counterpart, having to manage his players' fitness during the Club World Cup while also needing a result in Thursday's first leg to feel comfortable about a potential title in America's centennial season — a victory that would mean so much to the team after other Mexican clubs clinched top honors in their 100th anniversaries.
But each coach has his own pressure to bear, his own directors and fans to please. That much was obvious for Ferretti when the team was mobbed by fans upon both takeoff and landing of its Tuesday trip to the capital. Tigres fans don't want this long wait to end in disappointment. They want a title.
Ferretti and La Volpe both have been in these situations before, and despite their advanced ages they'll likely be in these situations again. Ferretti, given the time he's had to scheme up game plans and get his players back to full fitness, may have the upper hand in the tactical battle, but one wise flourish by La Volpe could swing the entire balance of the series.
It will be a fun one to watch — and of course it will be just as fun to watch the animated men in the tactical area on matchday as well.
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