Marcelo Flores and Tigres face their biggest game of the season in the Clausura’s final matchday, while Cyle Larin’s Southampton look to carry their Cinderella FA Cup run all the way to the Final and Jonathan David tries to finish strong as Juventus takes on an archrival.
Here’s a look at what some key Canadian players have on tap this weekend.
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Marcelo Flores, Tigres (vs. Mazatlan, Saturday at 7pm ET/4pm PT)
The biggest match of the season goes down on Saturday when Marcelo Flores and Tigres host Mazatlan at El Volcan on the final matchday of Liga MX’s Clausura. The margin for error is nonexistent. Guido Pizarro’s side enters the final matchday of the Clausura on 22 points, level with Xolos and Leon. But because of a superior goal difference, UANL currently holds down the final playoff spot.
The reason why there is no margin for error is this summer’s World Cup. In most years, the top six teams in the table qualify for the playoffs with a play-in round for the final two spots held among the teams that finish seventh to 10th. To avoid fixture congestion in a World Cup year, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) decided to scrap the play-in round. To qualify for the playoffs, you must finish in the top eight.
That could be easier said than done for Tigres, who have had a rough go of it as of late. After a second-place finish in the Apertura that saw UANL only lose once, Tigres defeated Xolos in the quarters and Cruz Azul in the semis before a heartbreaking loss to Toluca in the final. There didn’t seem to be the hangover of disappointment in the early days of the Clausura, but it has evidently sunk in since.
Tigres opened the tournament with three wins in its first five matches and replicating the form displayed in the Apertura seemed like a possibility. Yet much has changed since. Tigres has lost six of their past 16 matches and has won only one of their past six. The team has strung together consecutive wins only once during Clausura play.
On Wednesday night, Tigres played to a scoreless draw with Atlas, the team directly above them in the table. As for Flores, he came off of the bench in the draw, replacing Ozziel Herrera in the 59th. He registered two shots, including one on target, in his 31 minutes of play.
Tigres is looking for its first Clausura since 2023. Last season’s tournament for UANL ended in the semi-finals. Tigres fell to Toluca over two legs.
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Cyle Larin, Southampton (vs. Manchester City, Saturday at 12:15pm ET/9:15am PT)
With a Championship playoff spot virtually assured of, Cyle Larin and Southampton now return their attention to an improbable FA Cup run.
After dispatching Arsenal in the quarter-finals, Saints looks to slay another giant in the final four in the form of new Premier League leaders, Manchester City. Southampton will look to win the FA Cup for just the second time and first time in 50 years.
There are only two matches left in the Championship season, so some could see this trip to Wembley coming at an inopportune time. While an FA Cup would be a fantastic accomplishment for Tonda Eckert and his team, a return to the top flight is the more pressing concern. Teams who were promoted last spring were guaranteed a windfall of £200 million.
But Eckert believes his team can do both. In fact, the FA Cup semi will aid in the promotion push, the 33-year-old German says.
“It’s quite clear that the cup has also helped us to perform in the league – I think it’s that way around,” Eckert said this week. “Obviously you do find belief by winning games in the Championship, but you find even more belief if you see that you can compete with teams in the Premier League. I think that’s very normal – it’s true for the players, as it is for the staff and everyone who works around the team. I think it’s not that one is in the way of the other. If you see what it means to the football club, if you see how many supporters are going to be travelling with us to Wembley, I don’t see how this is in the way of anything.”
Larin has been a key part of the surging Saints’ current 20-match unbeaten run. In 14 Championship appearances, the 30-year-old Brampton, Ont. native has six goals. Most recently, he scored in the team’s 2-2 draw with Bristol City on Wednesday that ended the team’s winning streak at eight. Larin has also scored in the team’s FA Cup run, notching a goal from the spot in a 2-1 win over Leicester City in the fourth round.
The prestige of winning European football’s oldest competition isn’t the only thing that comes with a victory. The winner of the FA Cup is guaranteed a spot in the Europa League. Depending on how the cards fall, Southampton might not even have to win in order to claim that spot. Should Chelsea beat Leeds in the other semifinal and qualify for Europe through the Premier League, the FA Cup spot would fall to Saints as finalists.
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Jonathan David, Juventus (at Milan, Sunday at 2:45pm ET/11:45am PT)
Jonathan David came through in the clutch last weekend for Juventus and the team will look for a repeat performance on Sunday as it looks to firm up its Champions League credentials.
Luciano Spalletti’s Old Lady travels to the San Siro to take on second-place Milan. A win and Juventus would pull ahead of the Rossoneri on goal differential.
In what has been an uneven first season in Italy for David marked by inconsistency and transfer rumours, a strong finish would likely ensure at least one more season in Serie A.
Signed on a Bosman from Lille in the summer, any sale of David would represent pure profit for Juve. But with Dusan Vlahovic likely on his way out the door on an expired contract and the misfiring Lois Openda on the transfer block, moving on from another attacking option in David is unlikely to be the team’s highest priority.
David showed what he is capable of in Juve’s 2-0 win over Bologna last Sunday. Just two minutes into the match, Pierre Kalulu whipped an inviting cross into the area that David met with a glancing header to open the scoring. It was a deft, poacher’s touch that not every forward possesses.
The goal was enough for Spalletti, who hasn’t always been effusive in praise of David since being named manager, to take notice.
“David isn’t your typical footballer,” Spalletti told Mediaset Italia. “He’s got a strong personality, a strong character. He’s gentle, he’s good, he needs to feel involved, to feel embraced. Time after time, he shows us better things, steps forward, which can then make him a truly important footballer.”
Sunday’s goal was the first in over two months for David. The Brooklyn-born, Ottawa-raised forward now has six on the season in Italy in 31 appearances in Serie A. He’s added two more in Champions League play.
With five matches remaining in the season, Juve is currently fourth in the table. They trail both Milan and third-place Napoli by three points. More importantly, though, the team is now five points clear of fifth-place Como for the final Champions League place.
