Tag: Cesar Acevedo

Goalkeepers in Liga MX are just out here scoring goals

Two goalkeeper goals in one day!

If you’re a goalkeeper in Liga MX and you didn’t score a goal Saturday, what were you even doing?

Despite only having five games being played, Liga MX somehow produced two different goalkeeper goals in a span of a few hours, because Liga MX is a fine-tuned machine when it comes to producing absolutely wild incidents.

First up, a back-and-forth game saw Querétaro and Santos Laguna both hold the lead at one point, with the former up 3-2 at home deep into stoppage time. For Querétaro—sitting dead last in Liga MX’s Apertura table—every point is important. While there is no longer relegation to the Liga de Expansión, Liga MX does hit teams with a financial penalty for finishing last, and as of right now, Querétaro faces a fine of over $4 million for their place in the table.

Santos got a corner in the 10th minute of second half stoppage time, though, and goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo took center stage. With nearly every player in the penalty area, Fernando Gorriarán flicked on a near-post corner, and Acevedo beat two Querétaro defenders (and teammate Hugo Rodríguez) to it, absolutely hurling himself at the ball to head home a stunning late equalizer.

For most leagues, a goalkeeper goal is something that happens once every few years, possibly even once a decade. In Liga MX? Just wait a few hours.

Pumas had taken the lead at Toluca, but fell behind 2-1. The stakes, with very few games left to play in the Apertura, were high for both teams: Toluca, with a win, would be tied for the fourth and final bye into the quarterfinals. Pumas, meanwhile, was looking at being two points outside of the playoff picture altogether with three games left on their plate.

Pushing for a crucial equalizer, Pumas turned a series of throw-ins into a corner kick in the sixth minute of stoppage time. With Dani Alves standing over the ball and the whistles raining down from Toluca fans at the Estadio Nemesio Diez, Pumas needed a miracle.

Enter Julio José González. Alves drove his corner kick to the near post, where the Pumas goalkeeper found himself surrounded by three Toluca players. It hardly mattered, though, as González won the header while falling backwards, powering a textbook header any English striker from the 1970s would have been proud of down and in, leaving Toluca’s players and fans utterly stunned.

The goals mean that 20% of the goalkeepers that played in Liga MX today scored, which if maintained (and of course it will be, that’s a Pro Soccer Wire Promise) means tomorrow’s schedule will produce another goalkeeper goal. Liga MX needs to maintain its goalkeeper goals edge after both the USL Championship and USL League One saw goalkeepers score in recent months.

Your move, MLS and NWSL!

Watch both goalkeeper goals from Liga MX

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