Pumas had a remarkable turnaround this Liga MX season. The historic Mexico City side finished 13th in spring’s Clausura but are in this week’s final after finishing atop the table in the recently concluded Apertura.

What spurred this rebound? You don’t need to look much further than Fidel Martínez.

It’s safe to say that without Martínez, Pumas wouldn’t be in the final. In the quarterfinals against Veracruz, it was the Ecuador international who scored the goal Guillermo Vazquez’s side needed in the second leg. Then, in the first leg of the semifinal against América, Martínez sent in a beautiful cross that was headed in for the opening goal. Another goal came from a shot he created on the counter-attack. It was saved, but one of Martínez’s teammates put it back in for the second.

Martínez leads Liga MX in assists, yet he hasn’t been given as much credit for Pumas’ renewed success as players like Ismael Sosa, Eduardo Herrera and Dario Veron.

MORE LIGA MX: Controversy of semifinal loss takes heat off América’s boss.

The 25-year-old winger didn’t fall out of the heavens into Pumas’ lap, but the club was lucky he was available this summer. He was one of the few bright spots on a Leones Negros team that couldn’t avoid relegation in its first year back in the top division. His six goals represented nearly half of the team’s total haul.

Though he had other suitors in the summer, especially after he secured his Mexican citizenship, Pumas signed the jewel of the descending Universidad de Guadalajara side. In Vazquez’s system, Martínez has shifted from goal-scorer to provider, showing an understanding of how to drift wide into space and provide an option, even if the ball is on the other side of the field.

He hasn’t needed to score the individual goals he did at his last stop, and he has matured beyond resorting to tricks and skill moves that only sometimes worked at Club Tijuana, his first stop in Liga MX. He was successful with the border team, becoming a regular starter and helping the team to lift the 2012 Apertura championship, but since he left the Xolos, his skill set has become more multidimensional.

Even his nickname has grown up since the move. In Tijuana, some called him “Fidelito (little Fidel). Now Martinez is more often called “Alegría,” or happiness, thanks to his habit of smiling on the pitch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asB-z1QZsFs

These days, Martínez gets wide and poses a real problem for defenders who aren’t sure if he’s going to cut inside or put in a cross toward Eduardo “Lalo” Herrera, Sosa or another of Vazquez’s attackers. While other wingers sometimes get sucked into the middle of the field, Martínez troubles defenders by putting his boots on the chalk and staying wide. That has helped left back Luis Fuentes to a breakout season that resulted in a call-up to the Mexican national team, as he has been able to display his talents when he gets forward. If Fuentes doesn’t come up, Martínez’s crossing ability and bag of tricks come into play.

Pumas is a balanced team with a solid defense that has come into its own this season. Los Felinos finished the regular season with a goal difference seven goals better than its closest competitor, fellow finalist Tigres. Yet, the attack struggled against Club América in the semifinal, scoring only when Las Águilas were playing with less than 11 men (something their capital rival was kind enough to do in both matches, finishing with nine each time).

Martínez will have his hands full in the final, needing to win the battle with right back Israel Jiménez, but he can also switch sides with Sosa and go at the left back spot, where Jorge Torres Nilo has been kept out because of an ankle injury. José Rivas has played as a suitable replacement thus far for a staunch Tigres defense, but Martínez might be able to take advantage with his speed.

If Pumas wins its first trophy since 2005, the warm feeling fans feel will come in no small part thanks to Alegría Martinez himself.

Club América is the champion of CONCACAF and just touched down in Japan to represent the region at the Club World Cup. Spirits have been higher, though. The club is coming off a controversial defeat in Liga MX’s two-legged semifinal against inner-city rival Pumas.

América had hoped to force the league to reschedule the Apertura’s final, with Mexican media outlets already talking about the novelty of playing the round’s two legs around Christmas. Instead, Las Águilas disappointed, losing 4-3 over 180 minutes.

After seeing their team reduced to nine men in each game, Americanistas (as fans of the team are known) directed their animosity toward the officials, a convenient turn of events for Ignacio “Nacho” Ambriz. Somehow the América manager has escaped the brunt of any full-scale criticism. How his predecessors would’ve loved the same benefit of the doubt.

When Miguel Herrera left to take over the national team after leading the América to two straight finals, including the 2013 Clausura title, there was a big job to fill in América’s managerial box. Matching both the success and El Piojo charisma is no easy task:

The job fell to Antonio Mohamed, who took the reins and disappointed Americanists with elimination at the quarterfinal stage. The next tournament, however, the Argentine, who had won a title of his own with Tijuana, continued to put his own spin on the team, and América rolled to another title. However, even then, life wasn’t easy for the América coach. He clashed with club directors over trips to visit home and his style of play and eventually left the club.

So what do you do when you fire a title-winning coach who played a fun, attacking style? You bring in another title-winning coach with an attacking style. Enter Gustavo Matosas, who had led León to the two championships between Piojo’s Clausura 2013 win and Mohamed’s triumph in the 2014 Apertura. He did, indeed favor an attack style, and started favoring sharp dress as well (below), wearing bright blazers and donning tortoise-shell sunglasses. While you never would call Herrera a natty dresser, it seemed Matosas was trying to portray a cool that Herrera and Mohamed could not.

It didn’t work. Fans wanted more from Matosas and weren’t pleased with how the team looked during the Clausura. Despite lifting the CONCACAF Champions League trophy and earning a second-place regular season finish, América’s quarterfinal elimination at the hands of Pachuca spelled the end for Matosas. He was fired after just one campaign.

Ambriz came in to criticism that he didn’t have the personality or profile for the job, and some of those arguments may not have been far off. Team president Ricardo Peláez played with Ambriz at Necaxa, and fans pointed at this alliance in bringing in a coach that had won no championships.

Not only had Ambriz never won more than a third of the matches he oversaw before arriving in the capital, he had been fired from Querétaro midway through the previous campaign. The Gallos Blancos improved when they dropped Ambriz and brought in Victor Manuel Vucetich.

“I brought in a manager who hadn’t won anything, including going down with Veracruz: Miguel Herrera,” Peláez said at the news conference where Ambriz was announced. “Fortunately, we got into two semifinals, and in the third were champions.”

Those criticisms were heard by Ambriz, who said last month they motivated him: “I give thanks to those who talked about me, to those who criticized me, because they helped me a lot.”

But now, after a worse regular-season finish and another year without arriving in a final, expectations will be sky high, both that the Club World Cup is a success (Chivas owner Jorge Vergara derisively said the team was going over just to eat sushi and would soon be back in Mexico eating tacos) and that the team is a title contender in the Clausura.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asB-z1QZsFs

Would the team have been better off sticking with Matosas? It’s tough to say that, given the Uruguayan was fired from Atlas during the season. But it also seems possible that with the resources and squad América has, anyone could manage the team to a decent result.

Ambriz hasn’t done too well to maximize those resources. His decision to sit Dario Benedetto, one of the league’s best forwards, in the first leg against Pumas was puzzling. Plus, even though fans point to the soft nature of the four sending offs, América hardly was the picture of discipline in the regular season or later.

It all adds up to a team that has talent but plays like an inexperienced man is at the helm. Though he’s eluded Matosas’s heavy criticism and won’t conflict with the board like Mohamed, reaching the heights of Herrera won’t come easily. If he’s not lifting a trophy soon, Ambriz could join the cavalcade of coaches that have been marched out of Estadio Azteca.

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.

Juan Carlos Osorio is in as the Mexico manager. Months after firing Miguel Herrera for an off-pitch incident, the Mexican federation announced the Colombian as its new national team coach.

Like any coach, Osorio is ready to put his own stamp on the team. In an introductory news conference –a format that always makes for an exciting adventure of diplomatic half-truths and premature assurances teams — the coach hinted at a possible setup going forward.

“Normally, we really like a 4-3-3 with only one central forward, and I think there are great possibilities with that,” he said at the news conference.

Now, the 53-year-old is set to head to Europe, a continent he knows well after working with Manchester City just after the turn of the century, to see how Mexicans are performing there. But he must work fast. The first match he’ll lead Mexico in is a World Cup qualifier against El Salvador on Nov. 13 before an unforgiving trip to San Pedro Sula to face Honduras.

MORE, ARNOLD: Chepo’s departure another bad move for misguided Chivas.

He is scheduled to see Javier “Chicharito” Hernandezi in Germany, Andres Guardado and Hector Moreno in the Netherlands. He’ll got o Portugal to visit Raul Jimenez, Hector Herrera, Miguel Layun and Jesus Corona. And yes, he’ll travel to Italy to see Rafa Marquez.

Marquez is a problem for Osorio. At age 36, Marquez is still seeing first-team minutes in a top-four league. His career stalled in MLS, enduring a horrendous spell with the New York Red Bulls, before bouncing back and leading León to consecutive Liga MX titles. From there, he moved to Hellas Verona, his current spot.

There’s no doubting Marquez’s credentials. In addition to the titles in his native country, he also won league championships in France and Spain and was the first Mexican to be on a team that won the UEFA Champions League.

There is doubt, however, about whether or not Marquez is currently among the best XI Mexican players. His fellow center back at the 2014 World Cup, Maza Rodriguez, is no longer receiving call-ups, and while Marquez’s speed isn’t slipping as quickly as Rodriguez’s, it’s clear he’s lost several steps. But the player still isn’t thinking about calling time on his international career.

“In the World Cup in South Africa, I thought maybe I would retire,” Marquez said at a news conference before the CONCACAF Cup, a match that he started in midfield, moved back to center back and then was substituted. “But the level of football keeps me here. I’m conscious that at some point my level will drop. So really I’m just going to enjoy doing what I can, while I can.”

It hasn’t been a great 2015 in the Mexico shirt for Marquez. He did little in the CONCACAF Cup and was injured during the Copa America campaign. Plus, Mexico doesn’t need Marquez any more. He’s long been surpassed by Moreno as El Tri’s best defender, and Diego Reyes’ emergence at Real Sociedad seems to make the pairing for 2018 clear. That’s good news for Mexico, but it’s a problem for Osorio.

The Colombian, especially if he plays a 4-3-3, has little use for Marquez as a starter, but will a player of his pedigree want to fly in from Italy to sit on the bench for qualification? Moreno and Reyes are a strong center back pairing. A number of center back prospects, including U-23 defenders Carlos Salcedo and Jordan Silva, are waiting the wings. In the center of midfield, Jonathan dos Santos and Jose Juan “Gallito” Vazquez are much better options, with Club América’s Javier Guemez among other options.

MORE, ARNOLD: The new state of Mexico’s settled defense.

And yet, how do just get rid of Rafa? He’s a legend. One of Mexico’s most successful all-time players. He deserves some sort of send-off, and how Osorio handles the situation will influence public perception of his tenure. Osorio seems well aware of that.

“With Rafael’s experience and with the match situations he’s faced and what he’s achieved as a player at the club level, he can’t be left to one side,” the coach said at the opening news conference. “He has versatility, he can play as a central midfielder or as a defender in a line of three and maintain the best level in this aspect.”

The manager went on to say that he had seen similar cases during his coaching career. He’ll need to lean on that experience because there’s no easy answer to the Marquez problem. Perhaps the coach lets him stay with his European team for qualification and brings him along for the Copa America Centenario, which now looks like it will take place. Even then, Mexico will want to put out its best side against South American competition, which it doesn’t face very often. It’s tough to see Marquez in that group.

Maybe there is no grand farewell. It might not be his biggest concern at the moment, but what to do about Marquez is certainly in Osorio’s mind. How he handles the situation will tell Mexican fans a lot of what they want to know about their new coach.

Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti is a superb manager with an excellent resume. In a coaching career that has spanned more than two decades, he has won the Mexican league with three different teams, being named best manager in one of those tournaments, taken a fourth team to the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup title, won the Copa MX and came closer than any other man to winning the Copa Libertadores with a Mexican team (an honor he shares with José Luis Real). And none of that will matter after the weekend.

Ferretti stepped in as the interim manager after Miguel Herrera was fired hours after leading Mexico to a Gold Cup victory. With Herrera given the boot for an airport altercation, Mexico needed a manager ahead of the CONCACAF Cup, and it needed one fast. Without any mutual love between the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol and a coach, Ferretti stepped in as the interim for two September friendly matches, Saturday’s playoff and a subsequent friendly this window.

Fans of Tigres, the club he currently coaches, will keep tabs on Ferretti as he leaves the job he has said on multiple occasions he has no interest in taking over long-term. But apart from those with a vested interest, few will remember Ferretti beyond what he does with Mexico.

SEE MORE: Klinsmann, Ferretti a contrast in tactical styles.

Club soccer in Mexico gets you through the weekend, but the national team is tops, especially for Mexican-Americans who support El Tri – fans who will have to deal with their American neighbors and co-workers if things don’t go as they hope Saturday. For that reason, Ferretti’s decision not to be a candidate for the permanent job is good for his sanity, but not his legacy.

His legacy with the casual Mexican fan (read: the majority of Mexican fans in a country with more than 120 million people, where soccer is the most popular diversion) will be dictated by what happens in Saturday’s playoff. The average Mexican is unlikely to remember what happened in the two friendly matches in September, and even the most ardent fan will probably forget about the friendly against Panama that follows.

Lose to the United States? With the added caveat that it comes in a one-off playoff? That’s something the fans will never forget. It’s not that Tuca would have to sprout another mustache or shave his current one and try to sneak out of the country under the cover of night. Fans won’t be quite that riled up. They will, however, be very disappointed and will have an easy scapegoat. Mexico won the Gold Cup and lost the playoff. What was the difference? The coach.

Of course the legacy contest also could mean Ferretti goes down a legend. In the world of Mexican soccer, where even the managers with the most questionable records generally manage to find more new jobs than a stimulus package, Ferretti will be set as long as he pleases. His club record already means he won’t have trouble finding employment should he and Tigres part ways. If he leads Mexico to a rivalry win, he’ll be remembered even by directors as a top manager.

MORE CONCACAF CUP: Why USA vs. Mexico matters | US defense a worry | Mexico’s settled

For the fans, Ferretti will be the man who guided El Tri from a time of turmoil after Herrera’s firing fired into a time of triumph. The new manager, potentially but not officially Juan Carlos Osorio, will be held against the Ferretti standard – which, depending on the result of the Panama match, would be an undefeated tenure.

It isn’t fair to a coach that has done so much in the domestic game, but Ferretti will be forever remembered by the decisions he makes and how his team performs Saturday.

There’s a sense of creeping dread familiar to Mexican soccer fans, that sinking feeling that occurs when the opposition progresses past the midfield and is driving at the back line: “Oh no. We can’t stop them.”

Mexico has a long history of great goalkeepers and defensive midfielders. Defenders? El Tri hasn’t exactly excelled there. With respect to Ricardo “La Volpe” Osorio, two of Mexico’s other best-ever defenders, Rafa Marquez and Carlos Salcido, were better in midfield.

So Mexico fans now find themselves in an unfamiliar position. Heading into Saturday’s CONCACAF Cup, the defense looks settled. It looks confident. It looks … good?

Yes, it looks good, and it does whether interim manager Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti goes with four or five players at the back. But how did this happen? How did defense go from a terrifying element of the Mexican team to a reassuring one?

SEE MORE: Muscle strain forces Gio dos Santos out of CONCACAF Cup.

The biggest factor is the changing of the guard. Veteran Maza Rodriguez is finally out of the picture, and while Mexico should have plenty of respect for the former PSV man, it’s a current PSV man that’s inspiring so much confidence at center back.

Hector Moreno has been the best Mexican defender for several years, playing twice in the 2010 World Cup and helping El Tri to a Gold Cup triumph in 2011. But he recently struggled to get fit, falling victim to injury in Mexico’s final World Cup match and missing much of the 2014-15 club season. Then he suffered an injury in the warm-up friendly matches ahead of the Gold Cup. The quick, savvy Moreno is now healthy, restoring one of El Tri’s best players to its lineup.

But Moreno already was in the Mexican set up. What he’s been lacking, aside from a good bill of health, is a partner. Diego Reyes has provided just that, steeping up at the international level. But until recently, Reyes was wasting away with Porto, seeing no time. A loan move to Real Sociedad this summer has paid huge dividends for the 23-year-old.

Reyes finding regular time under manager David Moyes is an enormous help to him and his national team. After putting in a Man of the Match performance in a rivalry match with Athletic Club two matchdays ago, Reyes managed to avoid utter embarrassment last weekend when Malaga’s Brazilian striker Charles put a hat trick past Sociedad. Though it wasn’t a clinic, he held together better than partner Iñigo Martínez to make sure he still enters the international break in good form.

Another player hitting the right stride thanks to a deadline-day move is Miguel Layun. After playing sporadically with Watford, and mostly playing in midfield when he saw time, the ex-América man finds himself getting regular time with Porto at left back. While there, he seems to have cut down on the errant balls that are too often his trademark, instead setting up a number of goals. Defensively, he hasn’t been challenged too often in the Portuguese league, which the Americans may try to exploit.

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Even right-sider Paul Aguilar, who has been the victim of plenty of abuse from Mexico fans, comes in relatively hot. After missing the September friendly matches with a thigh problem, the America defender has come back and acquitted himself well with his club. In addition to keeping pace with his marks down the wing, Aguilar got forward and scored in a 2-1 win against Chiapas on Saturday.

All together, a back four of Reyes and Moreno in the middle, with Aguilar and Layun wide, would set up very nicely for Mexico, giving El Tri something it’s not used to at all – a settled back line. That will be key to returning Mexico to something it was very used to for a long time – regional supremacy.

Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti is an experienced manager at the club level, but the interim Mexico boss seemed a little shell-shocked after his first full international window in charge of the national team. After a draw against Argentina early in September, the interim Mexico manager said he would call only players who can report on time to Oct. 10’s CONCACAF Confederations Cup playoff. It seemed the Tigres boss was trying to get a handle on the quick adjustments that must be made in limited time at the international level.

He also gave some hints about what kind of squad he would call in to face the United States, and while that roster is ready, so far he’s among the only people who know what it will look like. But examining at the qualities he’s mentioned and how players have performed since the last international break can help us take a few educated guesses at players who have done enough to sway the manager’s preconceived notions.

SEE MORE: USA vs. Mexico: Where El Tri will turn if they lose Andres Guardado.

Moving the needle

Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez: Although he scored from the spot against Argentina, Hernandez missed a number of wide open chances and eventually got the hook from Ferretti, which might have left the Tigres coach wondering if the 27-year-old is right to start against the U.S. But since the international window he’s scored in two of five matches with new club Bayer Leverkusen.

Diego Reyes: The center back is becoming one of the first names on Mexico’s team sheet, especially with Rafa Marquez injured. Lack of playing time at the club level was a concern, but Reyes made 10 clearances and passed well out of the back for Real Sociedad on Sunday in a Basque derby draw with Athletic. Reyes keeps getting minutes from David Moyes, which should make it easy for Ferretti to start him next to Hector Moreno at the back.

Giovani dos Santos: After missing the September friendly matches for what Mexico insisted were “sporting reasons,” the LA Galaxy attacker has continued to show good form. He scored once and helped craft another goal in the Galaxy’s Sunday win against FC Dallas. Dos Santos is back on the provisional roster, and if only his play is taken into account, he’ll make the cut down to 23.

Thinking twice

Carlos Vela: The Real Sociedad attacker was one of only a handful of players to get minutes in both Mexico’s September friendlies, but he wasn’t able to put his stamp on either match. After returning to Real Sociedad, Vela’s play has been overshadowed by Reyes and other teammates. He’s yet to score this season, and with a number of Mexican attackers in better form, his starting role might be in jeopardy – something that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago.

Hector Herrera: The Porto midfielder scored in both friendlies for Ferretti, and it’s tough to see him being taken out of the starting XI with all his success on the international level. But for all the exploits with Mexico, he’s cooled with Porto, missing out on the recent derby against Benfica after getting substituted in Porto’s Champions League match. On Friday, Herrera was back in the starting lineup, but Jesus “Tecatito” Corona got on the scoresheet with Herrera relatively quiet. With Tecatito shining in midfield, plus Jonathan dos Santos returning to the fold, Ferretti could be thinking twice about handing Herrera a starting spot.

Guillermo Ochoa: Though Ferretti said players don’t need to be getting minutes in Europe to make his side, and Ochoa showed under Miguel Herrera that he can come in cold and still make stunning stops, the Malaga goalkeeper is a real doubt. Ochoa sees virtually no time with the La Liga side and wasn’t called in by Ferretti for the September friendlies.

SEE MORE: What Tuca Ferretti learned from his first break in charge.

What Ferretti decides with his bubble players will depend on the status of Andres Guardado and Rafa Marquez. If the veterans are healthy, both will be in the 23-man call. If they’re not, it will mean a chance for some younger players at the same positions.

That’s just one decision the manager has to make, with the legacy of his short Mexico career on the line come Oct. 10 in Pasadena.

Ankle ligaments. The most buzz-worthy storyline for Mexico and U.S. fans ahead of October’s playoff between the two nations for CONCACAF’s 2017 Confederations Cup berth has revolved all around ankle ligaments; specifically, left ankle ligaments. And more specifically, the left ankle ligaments of Andres Guardado.

Ever since the reigning Gold Cup Most Valuable Player, clearly the best player for Mexico at the tournament El Tri won to force this one-off, limped off in PSV’s Champions League victory over Manchester United, fans and press on both sides of the border have been anxiously awaiting updates about the 28-year-old’s status. The diagnosis came down Monday, and it’s not looking good for Guardado.

The first thing for American fans to note before they start celebrating is that Mexico hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Guardado recovering in time for the playoff. The Mexican national team sent kinesiologist Carlos Pecanha over to the Netherlands to help rehab and hopefully recover more quickly than the four-to-six week time table his club offered.

SEE MORE: CONCACAF releases US, Mexico preliminary squads.

It’s not just hopeless optimism. Little has come out about the specifics of Guardado’s injury, and even if we knew more, even the medical community isn’t always well-educated on the topic. “Despite the fact that the ankle ligaments are prone to injury during the vast majority of sports, literature focusing on the ankle ligaments is rare,” Pau Golanó writes in a paper published in the journal Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy.

Skipping the literature and reading the tea leaves, there’s a very good chance Guardado isn’t good to go, something that would be big blow for interim Mexico manager Ricardo Ferretti. “Tuck” now faces not only the question of who to play in Guardado’s absence but the possibility of an entire formation switch.

After trying his preferred 4-4-2 against Trinidad and Tobago and getting a hard-fought 3-3 draw, Ferretti went with Mexico’s familiar 5-3-2 against Argentina to much-improved results, albeit in another stalemate. Guardado is a versatile player who has seen time at fullback for club and country but found a home on the left side of the Mexico attack, coming inside to shore things up when Miguel Layun pushes forward from his wingback spot.

But the 5-3-2, with Guardado on the left of a midfield also including Jose Juan “Gallito” Vazquez and Hector Herrera, seemed most likely for next month’s clash in Pasadena. Ferretti could try to keep the formation the same, but he might be better served switching back into a four-man midfield, especially with the possibility center back Rafa Marquez may also miss the playoff with an injury.

SEE MORE: What Tuca Ferretti learned from his first friendlies.

The first option on the left side is Javier Aquino. Ferretti brought Aquino into his club team, Tigres, during the offseason and slotted him into the Mexican team in the friendly against Trinidad and Tobago. Aquino has some speed and vision but is nowhere near the defender Guardado is and might be a risk to play in front of a left back that likes to take chances like Layun.

Another intriguing option is Toluca’s Carlos Esquivel. The midfielder played in the center of the midfield in that match against Trinidad and Tobago but has also seen time as a winger since Miguel Herrera revived his national team career. Esquivel also has history with Ferretti, playing with Tigres in 2008. Defensively, he’s stronger than Aquino, but he doesn’t have the speed to trouble back lines the way other weapons at Ferretti’s disposal do.

Another option is Jesus “Tecatito” Corona, who is a natural winger, though he’s seen more time at forward since his summer move to Porto. Corona is very shifty and can go into his bag of tricks to take on defenders one-on-one. Getting the ball into the box hasn’t been his strength, but the 22-year-old was Mexico’s most creative player at the Copa America this summer and earned Best Young Player honors at the Gold Cup. He’s shown he can raise his level of play and wouldn’t be cowed by the playoff occasion.

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The real linchpin in the discussion is Jonathan dos Santos. The Villarreal midfielder might have been the best player not named Guardado in Mexico’s Gold Cup side, but he was left off Ferretti’s September squad. The reasons for that omission remain a bit opaque. While Jona does all right getting forward, he’s far better suited to play in the center of the park, with a pairing next to Gallito an enticing possibility. Even manning the central spot solo, as he did during the Gold Cup, is an option. Of course, that’s if Ferretti even plans to name him to his final roster and utilize him at all.

There’s no doubt that Guardado’s injury demands Ferretti make a tough decision about how he aligns his team, but there’s also little doubt that he has options that aren’t a horrific drop-off in quality. Whatever he chooses won’t escape scrutiny, but will provide far more chatter than ankle ligaments in the build up.

Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti is an experienced manager, coaching various club teams without much of a break since taking over the Pumas team he played for in 1991. Aside from winning one match with Mexico in 1993, though, Mexico’s September friendlies against Trinidad and Tobago and Argentina were the interim Mexico manager’s first taste of the international game. That means the Tigres boss had plenty to learn and take away from the last week’s pair of draws.

The biggest thing for Tuca to get used to was the limited opportunities he had to see his players during an international break. Given the close of the Europe’s summer transfer windows, this break always was going to be difficult, with so many Mexican internationals swapping teams in Europe. That meant Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, having moved to Bayer Leverkusen from Manchester United, arrived late and missed out on the first friendly, while former Twente midfielder Jesus “Tecatito” Corona missed the whole window, staying with his new club, Porto, and working out visa issues.

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“We’re going to look to have a definitive list that arrives on time to be able to work,” Ferretti said about next month’s squad after the Argentina match, expressing how little time he had to work with a full complement of players.

Perhaps that’s why, after drawing 3-3 with Trinidad and Tobago last week, Ferretti put another lesson into practice – that sometimes it’s best to stick with what a team knows. He usually chooses a disciplined team that stays back in two lines of four, with attacking urgency coming from his wide players in the midfield. Instead of sticking with that formation in the second match, however, Tuca reverted back to the 5-3-2 formation Mexico had used so often during the Miguel Herrera era.

Argentina manager Tata Martino said El Tri’s tactics didn’t come as a surprise, calling the decision to stick with what the players know a “logical” one on Ferretti’s part.

A lineup featuring Mexico’s European-based stars also seemed logical after Ferretti learned another lesson that Herrera had learned only recently. Even though Liga MX has some of the region’s most talented players, it doesn’t have the depth of Mexican talent it needs to overcome injuries or simply put out a second side.

Mexico’s struggles in June’s Copa America with an alternate team that couldn’t beat Bolivia or Ecuador displayed the shortcomings of Mexico’s second group. Ferretti, in part because of the absences, used inexperienced players like center back Oswaldo Alanis and forward Henry Martin. Alanis was victimized by the Caribbean side, while Martin was inefficient, at best, up top.

The poor play from those reserve players made the omissions of Jonathan dos Santos, Giovani dos Santos and Guillermo Ochoa — which federation officials insist was Ferretti’s call — all the more strange. Provided those players can report on time to October’s camp ahead of the playoff with the United States, they could be included, with Ferretti saying after the match that getting minutes in Europe is not a prerequisite for his selections.

Ultimately, the manager came away feeling like there were several things to improve on for Mexico heading into October’s Confederations Cup playoff, but he also said he learned good things about his club.

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“Right now, in these two matches, if we want to see negative things, there are several, but before I look at the negatives, I start looking at the positive things,” Ferretti said.

Ferretti, who is still managing Tigres while leading Mexico until the post-playoff friendly against Panama, will certainly have plenty of things to look at in both columns, but ultimately, he will be well served by the two draws.