First Division. The strange formula has to be outlined again, just because it is… strange. Every team played twice against all others, but the league was divided into 4 groups of 5 teams and the top two in each group qualified to the next stage. The team with least points in the whole league was relegated.
Group 1.
Irapuato – last with 37 points.
Atletico Morelia – 4th with 39 points.
Monterrey – 3rd with 42 points.
Puebla – 2nd with 46 points and going to the next stage.
UNAM – 1st with 46 points (better goal-difference than Puebla) and going to the next stage.
Group 2.
Atlante (Queretaro) – last with 28 points and since theirs was the worst record in the whole league, they were relegated.
Cruz Azul – 4th with 33 points.
Santos Laguna (Torreon) – 3rd with 34 points.
Toluca – 2nd with 38 points and going to play-offs.
Universidad de Guadalajara – 1st with 40 points and going to play-offs.
Group 3.
Tampico-Madero – last with 29 points.
UAG (Zapopan) – 4th with 34 points.
Atlas (Guadalajara) – 3rd with 37 points.
UAT – 2nd with 40 points and qualified to next stage.
America – 1st with 48 points and qualified to next stage.
Group 4.
Veracruz – last with 34 points.
Cobras (Ciudad Juarez) – 4th with 38 points.
CD Guadalajara – 3rd with 38 points.
Necaxa – 2nd with 39 points and qualified to play-offs.
UANL – 1st with 40 points and qualified to play-offs.
Championship play-offs.
¼ finals.
Toluca was eliminated by America 1-1 and 0-3.
Necaxa (Mexico City) eliminated by UNAM 0-0 and 1-3.
UAT Correcaminos was dramatically eliminated by… the rules. They won the first leg against Puebla 3-1, but lost the second with the same result. Puebla went ahead because of better first-stage record.
UANL was eliminated by U de G 3-2 and 1-3.
½ finals.
America (Mexico City) lost to U de G 0-2 and 2-1.
UNAM (Mexico City) lost to Puebla 4-4 and 2-4.
Final.
U de G lost the first leg at home 1-2 and also the second away 3-4. Puebla was the winner.
Universidad de Guadalajara – or Leones Negros – had very strong season, but at the end failed to win the championship. Small differences, but not in their favour.
Puebla triumphed and it was well deserved victory – the team was the third strongest in the first stage, which helped them in the ¼ finals – the only kind of shaky performance in the season, but after that they prevailed to the very end. Their total record was 21 wins, 13 ties, 10 losses, scoring 75 goals and receiving 56.
Thus, Puebla won its 2nd title and, naturally, the squad was solid, if not particularly famous outside Mexico: just the name a few, Pablo Larios, Marcelino Bernal, Jose de la Torre were well respected national team players, Brazilian striker Edevaldo provided foreign strength and the club acquired the Paraguayan star Julio Cesar Romero from Spanish FC Barcelona for this season. He was the most famous player in the squad, but he was no longer young, and more or less, a pale shadow of his former self – Moreno was already 33-years old and after the season departed for his country to play for Sportivo Luqueno. Yet, he added a Mexican title to his sporting achievements.
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