Five months in Mexico had seen Trebor Mahtal consolidate Club Necaxa’s position as an upper-mid-table Liga MX side while bringing £8m into the club. However, a weak squad was in dire need of improvements to be competitive.
Mahtal brought in an additional £1.5m for nine players to boost his transfer kitty to £7.5m. His first Necaxa signings were both centre backs as Mikael Marfelt arrived on a free transfer from Kobenhavn and 20-year-old Fernando Moreno signed for £2.5m from Pumas. He also bolstered the midfield with 18-year-old Spencer Quiroz for £1.1m from Querétaro and snapped up goalkeeper Carlos Alberto Cruz on a free transfer from América.
With the defence strengthened, Mahtal debated switching to three at the back. But he eventually decided to shift to more of a 4-5-1 with Darío Villafana pushing across to left back and young starlet Gabriel Díaz coming into the midfield.
Liga MX Clausura Struggles
Necaxa began the second half of the 2046/47 campaign at home to Guadalajara. And a late goal by midfielder Franco Montenegro was enough for a 1-0 win, which the media described as “Mahtal’s tactical gamble paying off.” They lost 1-0 at Pachuca before their two biggest attacking threats, winger Edwin Castillo and striker Carlos Martínez, secured a 2-0 victory at home to León. That began an ongoing trend as Necaxa won their home games without conceding and lost their away games without scoring before getting thumped 4-1 at leaders Tigres and 4-2 at 3rd-place San Luis.
Necaxa finally picked up an away point with a 2-2 at Juárez, which proved to be their only away point of a pretty disappointing campaign. Winger José Juan González scored the only goal against bottom-side Mazatlán to move Necaxa 12th, level on points with the final playoff place. They lost 2-0 at leaders Tijuana but Martínez and Moreno’s first goal for the club nicked a 2-1 at Pumas. That took them into the final day of the season one point behind Puebla in 10th but, despite taking an early lead, a 2-1 loss at Monterrey saw them miss out. An 11th-place finish came after 6 wins, 3 draws and 8 defeats as Necaxa scored 26 and conceded 31.
It was pretty clear that Necaxa didn’t have enough attacking threat to compete. Martínez led the way with just 13 goals in 36 games in Mahtal’s first season, followed by centre midfielder Franco Montenegro’s 11 goals and 8 assists, González’s 9 goals and 7 assists and Castillo’s 8 goals and 6 assists. But beyond that, no-one really contributed.
Seeking Improvement In Mahtal’s Second Season
Mahtal had been unhappy with the Clausura performances, but the Necaxa board saw enough to offer him a new 3-year contract. The manager wasted no time selling off more underperformers, bringing in £5.75m for five players, including left back Claudio Bustamante to Guadalajara for £1.7m, backup striker Javier Rodas to Tojuana for £1.4m and goalkeeper Diego Melo to Leixoes for £400k.
He then bolstered the squad with left back Joaquin Domínguez for up to £4m from Instituto, striker Ángel Cuevas for £2m from Querétaro and goalkeeper Hugo Quinónes for £500k from Millonarios. He also promoted promising centre back Sergio Sánchez after ending his two-year loan. With those players in, Mahtal finally decided to revert to three at the back while retaining his two wingers.
The bookies didn’t rate Mahtal’s transfer business, predicting Necaxa to finish in a lowly 15th with longer title odds of 200/1. Tigres, last season’s Clausura winners and Apertura runners-up, remain 5/6 favourites ahead of América (7/1), Guadalajara (12/1), Santos Laguna (14/1), Pumas (15/1) and Monterrey (16/1).
The new formation began in familiar fashion with a 1-0 defeat at América. But Moreno nicked a 2-1 win over Juárez before tame defeats to Monterrey and Atlas, which forced Lazaró to tweak the approach, dropping the left winger back to wing back to move Díaz into midfielder alongside Montenegro. That worked well as Martínez scored both in a 2-0 defeat of Cruz Azul, which saw the striker become Necaxa’s all-time record league goalscorer with 139 in 329 games, surpassing the 138 scored by Ricardo Peláez 50 years ago in 1997.
Necaxa went an entire calendar year without an away win, stretching back to a win Mazatlán on 26 October 2046. They also weren’t winning many at home before Castillo and Cuevas’ first goal downed leaders Guadalajara 2-0 to creep into the top eight for the first time. Díaz created the only goal for Cuevas at home to Toluca and the best performance of Mahtal’s reign saw Castillo, González and Martínez defeat Tijuana 3-0. They even managed to lose 4-3 at bottom-side San Luis – which made it two ‘half seasons’ without an away victory – before wrapping up Apertura by losing 2-1 to Puebla and a superb Quinónes performance secured a 0-0 with Santos Laguna. That secured an improved finish of 9th to reach the playoffs.
Necaxa entered the playoffs in the extra preliminary round, and a late Marfelt header nicked a 2-1 win over Tijuana, in which Montenegro was ruled out for three months with a hip injury. Next, they faced Juárez away, which didn’t bode well, and so it proved as they put in a tame performance and lost 2-0.
Necaxa Finally Win An Away Game
Mahtal had seen signs of improvement in Apertura, including having the 3rd-best home record in the league, but the ongoing away-day struggles were a huge concern. He tweaked the tactic again ahead of the second half of the season, moving Castillo into a deep-lying forward role with the improving Domínguez coming in as the right wing back in more of a classic 3-5-2.
That change began with a pretty dire 0-0 at home to América and an unsurprising 2-1 defeat at Juárez before Martínez nicked a 1-1 at home to Monterrey, who’ve spent £18m on players this season. But, shock horror, the 15-month wait for an away win ended as Martínez scored the only goal of a poor game at Pumas. Domínguez’s first goal nicked a 1-1 at home to Atlas and a pretty dull start to the season was ended by a wild record-breaking 4-4 at Tigres before Montenegro scored on his return to crown a 4-2 win at home to León.
But Necaxa were massively draw-happy, drawing seven of their opening 12 games. But Montenegro scored the only goal at home to Pachuca, and Castillo and Martínez strikes downed Querétaro to jump into 5th place. A second away victory followed as Martínez’s brace led a 3-1 at Tijuana before Cuevas scored the only goal at Puebla. But a final day defeat at Santos Laguna saw Necaxa finish 5th with 31 points after 8 wins, 7 draws and 2 defeats, scoring 25 and conceding 15.
That improved league finish sent Necaxa straight into the playoff quarter finals against Clausura winners Tigres, who they’d failed to beat in six attempts during Mahtal’s reign. But Montenegro curled home from the edge of the box just before half time and Díaz smashed a shot in off the post after an hour to secure a 2-0 home win. And a solid defensive effort and six Quinónes saves earned a 0-0 away to reach the semis. Next up was big-spending Monterrey, who they also hadn’t beaten under Mahtal, and Mahtal celebrated 1,000 matches in management in the home leg.
The 1,000-match milestone wasn’t marked in fine style as the two sides played out a pretty turgid 0-0. Necaxa lost captain Rodrigo Gándara to a pulled groin the day before the away leg. But that inspired them to new heights as Díaz laid on González’s opener then beat two men before curling home a late second to secure a huge 2-0 victory and reach the Clausura Final against Club América.
América’s higher league position meant Necaxa were again at home in the first leg. Mahtal risked Gándara’s fitness and his pass into Castillo saw the Colombian fouled for a penalty that Marfelt surprisingly stepped up to slam home. The lead was doubled on 66 minutes as Díaz’s wonderful floated pass put Martínez in to confidently convert. That was Mahtal’s cue to replace him and try to see the game out with América offering nothing before being gifted a very dubious late penalty to undeservedly half the deficit.
Three days later, they made the trip to the giant Estadio Azteca for a shot at glory. Necaxa again started brightly as Gándara fed Domínguez on the right and his low cross was turned in by Martínez. América offered very little and didn’t get a shot on target until the 70th minute, but they did mount more of a challenge as Mahtal shut up shop. But Necaxa held on for a 1-0 win and a 3-1 aggregate success.
Necaxa won Liga MX Clausura!
Celebrating Unexpected Mexican Success
Given the recent struggles at Necaxa, Mahtal certainly hadn’t been expecting to win Liga MX Clausura in 2048. But improvement from young starlets like Díaz and Domínguez had pushed his side over the line in the latter stages. Martínez again led the way with 19 goals in 38 games, taking him to 153 Necaxa league goals in total, followed by Castillo (8) and Cuevas and Montenegro (5). While Castillo topped the assists with 10 followed by Díaz (9), Montenegro (8) and Domínguez (6). The wonderkid duo of Díaz and Domínguez were now wanted by Europe’s elite, and Mahtal was particularly fond of Díaz, who’d really stepped up a notch and won fans’ player and young player of the season.
The unlikely success meant Mahtal ticked N off his Alphabet Challenge. He left Necaxa after 700 days in charge, managing 88 games of which he won 34, drew 26 and lost 28, scoring 107 and conceding 91 with the worst win ratio of his career of 38%.
Where would Mahtal end up as he went in search of club number 14? Join us on Friday to find out!
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