Mazatlan will travel to the Estadio Nemesio Diez on Thursday to take on Toluca in the third round of fixtures of the Liga MX Apertura campaign.
The visitors will continue their search for a first victory of the season, while the hosts have collected four points from their first two outings and will look to extend an unbeaten streak.
Match preview
Toluca return to action on Thursday aiming to continue a pleasing start to the Liga MX Apertura campaign, having gone unbeaten in their opening two outings following a creditable Clausura run last term.
Following a disappointing Liga MX Apertura bid in 2023, in which they finished 12th and missed out on the final phase, the Diablos Rojos bounced back at the beginning of the New Year, finishing third in the table and booking an automatic quarter-final spot, only to be denied any further progress in a narrow 1-0 aggregate defeat to Guadalajara.
They began the new term away at the same opposition in early July, and Renato Paiva's side came away with a creditable share of the points from a goalless stalemate at the Akron Stadium, before hosting Juarez last time out in search of a first victory of the season.
Paiva's men succeeded in doing so in an eventful encounter, taking all three points at the weekend having initially gone 2-0 up through Paulinho and a Moises Mosquera own goal, only for Jesus Venegas and Angel Zaldivar to draw the visitors level before Paulinho netted his second and his side's third 19 minutes from time to settle the contest.
Now bound to head into Thursday's meeting on home turf with confidence following a pair of pleasing results, Toluca will aim to make it back-to-back victories to extend an unbeaten start to the season and begin to establish themselves in the leading pack in the coming weeks.
Their visitors, meanwhile, travel with the aim of improving on a tougher start to the Liga MX season, albeit having raised spirits with a comeback at the weekend.
Last campaign was another tough one for Mazatlan following their 2020 incorporation, having again failed to reach the final phase of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments, initially finishing 10th in the former and falling short in the play-in round, before ending the Clausura campaign in 14th spot on just 16 points from 17 outings.
Those results saw the Canoneros place 14th in the aggregate table, and after turning to Victor Manuel Vucetich to take the reins ahead of the new term, they were unable to avoid a losing start to their latest Apertura bid in early July, visiting Cruz Azul and leaving empty-handed despite the game looking set to end goalless, as Bryan Gamboa snatched all three points for their hosts with a 94th-minute goal.
It was the Canoneros who benefitted from a late goal in the following meeting at home to Atletico San Luis at the weekend, though, having trailed 2-0 until the final five minutes, only for Gustavo del Prete to halve the deficit before Brian Rubio forced a share of the spoils with a leveller nine minutes into injury time.
Mazatlan will now bid to build on that comeback result on Thursday and put a first victory on the board at the third time of asking in their bid to advance to the Apertura final phase this season.
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Team News
Toluca may head into Thursday's contest with an unchanged starting XI from last week's 3-2 victory over Juarez, with defender Juan Escobar remaining sidelined by an injury issue.
Paulinho, who arrived from Sporting Lisbon at the beginning of July, will lead the line with confidence, having netted a crucial brace in his first start for the club in that game, with Ivan Lopez, Alexis Vega and Jean Meneses again set to line up in a supporting trio.
Young midfielder Marcel Ruiz remains a key man in the engine room and should be partnered by Claudio Baeza, while Federico Pereira and Luan will continue to line up at the heart of a back four.
After coming off the bench to met their 98th-minute leveller last time out, Brian Rubio will fight to come into the Mazatlan attack from the outset on Thursday, having only earned two substitute appearances so far this term.
He will bid to displace Luis Amarilla, who led their scoring charts with 11 goals last season, while Pumas loanee Gustavo Del Prete will again operate in support after hitting his first goal of the campaign against Atletico San Luis.
Key men Facundo Almada and Ventura Alvarado should continue to partner up in the middle of a back four, while Roberto Meraz and Alan Torres will both fight to keep their places in midfield.
Toluca possible starting lineup:
Volpi; Garcia, Luan, Pereira, Gallardo; Ruiz, Baeza; Lopez, Vega, Meneses; Paulinho
Mazatlan possible starting lineup:
Gonzalez; Colula, Almada, Alvarado, Diaz; Torres, Meraz; Barcenas, Del Prete, Arciga Zarate; Rubio
We say: Toluca 2-1 Mazatlan
Both heading into the meeting with renewed confidence from their weekend results, we anticipate an entertaining encounter on Thursday and give a slight edge to the hosts, who hold more quality in their ranks.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
