As the Liga MX semifinals draw closer, the capital-centric Mexican sports press has focused on the meeting between Pumas and Club América.

That’s understandable. The clásico between capital rivals evokes memories of clashes gone by, of epic meetings in the `80s and `90s, not least of which is the 1991 final. That was the year when Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti smashed a stunning free-kick goal in the return leg to give Pumas the championship before ascending to the club’s managerial job.

Since then, Ferretti has managed a number of teams, including a brief stint as the Mexico interim coach this year, and while the team he gave a title as a player fights its rival, he’ll be leading his current club, Tigres, against Toluca in the semifinal that’s more likely to produce the Apertura’s title-winner

Ferretti’s men entered the playoffs on an absolute tear, finding their form after their manager was able to dedicate his total attention to the team. and once they were shorn of their CONCACAF Champions League responsibilities. A larger factor, likely, was the fact that some of the team’s most crucial players, including French forward Andre-Pierre Gignac and Mexican wingers Jurgen Damm and Javier Aquino, were among those who arrived in a summer spending spree.

Gignac followed up a superb regular season with a moment of magic in each leg of Tigres’ quarterfinal triumph against Chiapas, with a ridiculous overhead goal helping the club to a 2-1 first leg victory before a rocket from more than 20 yards gave Tigres a 1-0 victory in Chiapas. No team had at the Estadio Víctor Manuel Reyna since May.

Though Gignac, Damm, Aquino, Brazilian forward Rafael Sóbis and long-time Tigres man Damian Álvarez are more than formidable on attack, it’s at the back where Ferretti’s teams have traditionally been strongest. This incarnation doesn’t break that rule.

Tigres allowed the fewest goals of any team during the regular season, anchored by veteran Brazilian center back Juninho, who returned from injury to slot right back into the middle of the team’s defense. Next to him is Hugo Ayala, who has been in and out of the Mexican national team, but has done well to shut down attackers domestically. Israel Jiménez holds down the right side while Jorge Torres Nilo mans the left, though he’s been out with injury and will not be available in the semifinal (Damm is also an injury worry).

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If the defense equivocates, it rarely repeats its error. Tigres has conceded in just five goals in its last dozen matches in all competitions. It has allowed more than one goal in just three of the 21 matches played since dropping the Copa Libertadores final to River Plate, with two of those matches coming in the August games that followed that defeat in Argentina.

All that’s to say, Tigres’ defense is damn good. On the occasions they do falter, Argentine international Nahuel Guzmán is there as one of Liga MX’s best goalkeepers to make the necessary stops.

But despite the impressive roster and long unbeaten streak, it’s Toluca that enters the matchup as the higher seed after a regular season that saw the Red Devils win 10 of their 17 matches. That’s no small advantage in Liga MX, where the tiebreaker for aggregate series knotted after two legs is not away goals or a shootout, but simply passage granted to the team that had the better regular season.

Toluca has been riding various attacking players’ hot streaks throughout the season. Fernando Uribe is the man in form right now, scoring Toluca’s second goal in a 2-2 draw with Puebla and giving it a bit of insurance in Sunday’s second leg with a shifty 83rd minute goal.

In addition to the attacking players, Toluca also boasts one of the league’s best shot-stoppers, with Alfredo Talavera continuing to make a case to Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio that he should be El Tri’s No. 1. Tala had an impressive clean sheet in the second leg against Puebla, and there’s no reason to think he’ll be intimated by the international stars Tigres brings, some of which he faces in El Tri training.

Both Tigres and Toluca are very good teams,but the eyes of Mexico are squarely upon Pumas-América. That’s fair, but the team that ends up lifting the trophy may well come from outside the capital, and will absolutely be deserving of the prize should they lift it.