Trebor Mahtal completed the 10th leg of his Alphabet Challenge in May 2046, leaving him with the task of winning a major trophy with clubs whose names begin with 16 more letters of the alphabet. Big success at Borussia Dortmund meant he’d now ticked off A, B, E, J, L, M, P, S, U and W.
Two clubs beginning with the same letter were immediately available before Mahtal looked to a couple more obscure options. He eventually received a couple of interview offers in Scotland and Mexico, which gave him an interesting choice to make – Celtic or Necaxa. And he decided he fancied a bit of a different challenge.
Who Are Deportivo Necaxa?
Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V., also known as Club Necaxa, is a professional club based Agusacalientes (Hotwaters), a city in central Mexico around 400 miles northwest of the capital Mexico City. The club was founded in August 1923 by Scottish engineer William H Fraser, who owned the Light and Power Company, and took its name from the nearby Necaxa River. And it adopted its red and whit colours from the arrival of a Cornish community that arrived in central Mexico and left a legacy of Cornish pasties, mining museums and more.
Necaxa won its first Copa MX back in 1925 and went on to win seven more up to 1995, and hasn’t won any since. It also won back-to-back Liga MX titles in 1995 and 1996, an Apertura title in 1998 and added a Clausura success in 2045. However, last season, Necaxa finished 16th in Apertura then 7th in Clausura, which led to former player Santiago Naveda being sacked after just 217 days.
Necaxa play at the impressive-looking 25,000-capacity Estadio Victoria, which is supported by solid infrastructure of 16 youth recruitment, 15 junior coaching and 14 training and youth facilities. Mahtal has a balance of £14m, transfer budget of £2.9m and a wage budget of £373k, of which just £13k is spare.
The best player at Necaxa is Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Gándara along with homegrown striker Carlos Martínez, who was 12 goals away from becoming the club’s all-time record league goalscorer, and winger José Juan González and Colombian centre back Camilo Bustamante. Other key players include exciting Ecuadorian winger Edwin Castillo, centre back Dario Villafana, Argentinian midfielder Franco Montenegro, left back Claudio Bustamante, who’s never scored in 226 league games for the club, and Colombian striker Javier Rodas. There were also a few prospects to look out for in right back Juan Carlos Chávez and wingers Gabriel Díaz, Jesús López and Roberto Carlos Alarcón. However, they soon lost Colombian Bustamante as Leixoes met his £4.9m release fee and Mahtal brought in an additional £4m outside the Mexican transfer window – so he couldn’t replace those players.
Mahtal used the 4-3-3 approach from Dortmund and tweaked it slightly to drop the attacking midfielder into midfield and a few more conservative roles and instructions.
First Taste of Mexican Football
If you’re new to Mexican football, the 18-club Liga MX operates the Apertura and Clausura (opening and closing) league format. Teams play each other once before the top 10 go into a playoff series to decide the winner of each half of the season.
Mahtal joined Necaxa one week before the start of the 2046/47 Apertura campaign. His new side was fancied as mid-table occupants, with the bookies predicting them to finish 10th with title odds of 100/1. Tigres are 8/11 favourites ahead of Club América (9/2), Guadalajara (11/1), Monterrey (16/1) and Pumas and Santos Laguna (25/1).
His time in Mexico began with a tricky trip to Guadalajara and they struggled in a 3-1 defeat. Castillo earned a 1-1 at home to Pachuca and Martínez headed home Chávez’s cross for the only goal at Club León. Necaxa enjoyed a bright start, edging home wins over Querétaro and Toluca before losing 2-1 to América on Mahtal’s first visit to the impressive Estadio Azteca. A number of injuries hit an already threadbare squad, and Necaxa went four games without a win before Martínez nicked a vital 1-0 at home to Pubela and Montenegro’s strike secured the same result at Mazatlán. But a slightly stumbling end to the season saw Necaxa hold onto 8th place to make the playoffs.
The playoffs began in the preliminary phase at home to América. A 0-0 took them to penalties, where Necaxa scored 7 before Diego Melo saved to sneak them into the quarters. But dreams of an unlikely title win ended against 2nd-place Tigres, who dominated both legs and won 4-2 on aggregate.
Cup Involvement Begins
Mexican teams enter various cup competitions, which began with the continental Leagues Cup group stage. Necaxa drew 0-0 with Columbus but lost on penalties then drew 1-1 with NYCFC and, again, lost on penalties, which somehow saw them qualify in second ahead of Columbus, who lost 2-0 to NYCFC. They improved to thrash Austin 4-1, led by a Martínez brace in the Central quarter final, and González followed suit to defeat NYCFC 3-0. That teed up a Central Final against Monterrey and the run ended with a 2-1 defeat. Necaxa also took on LAFC in the club’s first Campeones Cup, which pits the previous season’s Liga MX winner against the winner of MLS Cup. LAFC completely bossed the game and scored after an hour to win 1-0.
A Steady But Unspectacular Start
Mahtal had his work cut out for him at Necaxa. Martínez had been their best performer with 10 goals in 22 games while Montenegro chipped in with 8 goals and 6 assists and González contributed 6 goals and 4 assists. But beyond that, there was plenty of improvement required. However, he’d brought in plenty of money for players who weren’t up to it, and he needed to begin strengthening the squad for Clausura when the transfer window opened at the end of December.
Could Mahtal strengthen his Necaxa side to take on Mexico’s best sides? Join us on Monday to find out!
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