First Division. The short championship was called ‘Mexico 86’ and had the following structure: the league was divided into two groups of 10 teams each. The teams played only against the teams of the same group, the top 4 teams of each group proceeded to quarterfinals, semifinals, and final. It can be argued that some leading clubs, especially those with national team players, were affected and weakened by the coming World Cup, but a championship is a championship and excuses are only for whiners. Of course, some traditionally strong teams were down – particularly UNAM, which ended 9th in Group II with 13 points. Only one team played worse than them. No matter, rules are rules and some were eliminated in the group stage:
CD Neza was 5th in Group I and out,
Necaxa – 7th in Group II.
In the quarterfinals more casualties fell down: Atlante lost to Monterrey 0-0 and 0-6.
Atletico Morelia lost to Tampico-Madero 2-2 and 0-2.
Cruz Azul – to America 0-1 and 0-1.
Puebla – to CD Guadalajara 2-3 and 1-1.
In the semi-finals, CD Guadalajara was gone, losing twice to Monterrey 0-1 and 0-1. America also lost – Tampico-Madero almost survived the first leg, losing only 2-3, but got big revenge at home: 4-0.
Thus, Monterrey and Tampico-Madero met to decide the 1986 champion of the country. In the first leg Tampico-Madero prevailed 2-1, but the result benefited Monterrey – they were hosting to second leg. And made the best of it, winning 2-0. Monterrey was the stronger finalist – they opened the result in Tampico with a goal by Hector Beccera and Tampico-Madero struggled to prevail: thanks to own goal scored by unfortunate Rito Luna, they equalized, but managed to score the winning goal only in the 79th minute, thanks to Eduardo Rergis. Monterrey’s victory was not easy at all – Reynaldo Gualdini gave them the lead in the 30th minute, but only from a penalty. The winning goal was scored in the 93th minute by Francisco Javier Cruz. Difficult or not, victory was theirs.
This may be a picture of Tampico-Madero from 1986 – certainly it is from their ‘Brio’ period, named after their sponsor. It was bitter-sweet time, though: succesful, but not entirely succesful – they finished second in the short 1985 championship, then second in 1986, both times beaten at the final. Sure, they took revenge for their first loss by thrashing America in the 1986 semi-finals, but still failed to win at the end. Came close, yet – second best.
Monterrey was most deserving champion, for they were consistently strong during the whole championship: they ended with the best record in both groups at the end of the opening stage. Back then they lost only two games, got wonderful +25 goal-difference – five goals better than second-best, Tampico-Madero’s, which trailed them in Group II also by 5 points. Monterrey proceeded unbeaten to the final, producing the biggest victory at the direct elimination rounds – 6-0. They lost minimally the first leg of the final, then won the second by the nececarry margin. Certainly better than Tampico-Madero overall.
One more look at the champion squad. Difficult to tell who is who, but here are the names of the winners: Gueldini, Gamboa, Campa, Contreras, Bahia, Garcia, Munoz, Ortega, Becerra, Cruz, Luna.