Who were the Liga MX’s winners and losers after this month’s international break?

Mexico’s brief run with an all‑Liga MX roster wrapped up with two slim 1–0 wins over Panama and Bolivia, but the real takeaway for club teams is concern. While El Tri handled business thanks to a Richard Peralta own goal and a strike from Germán Berterame, the physical toll fell hardest on América and Chivas — leaving clubs like Tigres and Monterrey in a far more comfortable spot heading into the league’s restart.

Chivas, without question, formed the backbone of this national‑team squad. In the matchup against Panama, Javier Aguirre’s lineup opened with six Guadalajara players: Raúl Rangel, Luis Romo, Roberto Alvarado, Richard Ledezma, Bryan González, and Brian Gutiérrez, with Armando “Hormiga” González coming off the bench.

The workload didn’t ease in the second game against Bolivia, where “Tala” Rangel and “Hormiga” González again started, and Romo and Gutiérrez logged additional minutes as substitutes. With so many key players racking up heavy minutes, Chivas is the club most at risk of seeing its core return fatigued.

América loss

América, meanwhile, took the biggest hit on the injury front. Even though players like Luis Malagón and Ramón Juárez saw limited action or stayed on the bench, alarms went off when Israel Reyes left today’s match hurt — a major blow to the team’s defensive structure.

Incidents like this, especially in games outside the official FIFA calendar, highlight the stark contrast with clubs such as Tigres and Monterrey. Despite sending players like Diego Laínez and Víctor Guzmán, both teams managed to avoid significant wear and tear on their stars.

The ‘beneficiaries’ of the shutdown

When all is said and done, the clubs that truly “won” this international break were the ones that kept their squads training at home or had minimal involvement with the national team. Cruz Azul did see players like Charly Rodríguez and Erik Lira take the field, but teams such as Pumas — and Tigres once again — avoided putting their core players through the same physical strain faced by the giants of Guadalajara and Coapa.

With the league’s return just around the corner, the impact of these domestic call‑ups could play a decisive role in determining which teams hit the final stretch of the season with fresher legs.

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