The Liga MX Apertura 2016 playoffs get underway on Wednesday and while there are lots of stories off the pitch, here's a breakdown of each team from a tactical and playing style point of view.
Club Tijuana (1) vs. Leon (8)
Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET at Estadio Leon; Saturday, 10 p.m. ET at Estadio Caliente
Club Tijuana
Miguel Herrera has taken a club that was sliding quickly into relegation trouble and has installed a new identity. Xolos have adapted to "Piojo" Herrera's demands to play a vertical style, with plenty of volume going forward and solidity at the back.
Herrera has changed from the 5-3-2 system he employed with the Mexico national team and at Club America and implemented a loose 4-2-3-1 formation. It has been a masterstroke and a switch that has greatly helped to unleash the offensive potential of a foreigner-dominated team.
Central striker Milton Caraglio is the key attacker, even if Dayro Moreno was the regular season's joint-highest scorer. Caraglio holds up the ball very well, allowing the talented and fluid trio of Moreno, Aviles Hurtado and Gabriel Hauche space to rotate around him, which has been a nightmare for opposition defenders.
Xolos also had the joint best defensive record in the regular season.
Standard formation: 4-2-3-1
Most important player: Guido Rodriguez
SPI to win Apertura: 8.2 percent
SPI to advance vs. Leon: 45.8 percent
Leon
The team with the least possession in the league (average 43.3 percent), Leon's football is the most direct in Liga MX. La Fiera has the highest percentage of long balls as a percentage of passes and the second highest cross percentage in the final third. The team from the state of Guanajuato also completed fewer passes than any other team in the league over the regular season.
And the more vertical, no-nonsense style under coach Javier Torrente has worked. La Fiera moves the ball forward at pace, gets it wide and relies on wingers Luis Montes and Elias Hernandez's crossing ability to provide chances for strikers Mauro Boselli and German Cano.
The central midfield duo of Alexander Mejia and Leonel Lopez -- one to watch for Mexico fans -- provides a solid platform, while center-backs Guillermo Burdisso and Diego Novaretti also constitute a significant threat from offensive set pieces.
Similar to the past few years, the key to defeating Leon is either starving Boselli of space near goal or service.
Standard formation: 4-4-2
Most important player: Boselli
SPI to win Apertura: 10.3 percent
SPI to advance vs. Xolos: 54.2 percent
Tigres (3) vs. Pumas (6)
Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. ET at Estadio Olimpico Universitario; Saturday, 8 p.m. ET at Estadio Universitario
Tigres
With an average of 56.8 percent possession per game and more passes than any other team in Liga MX this past regular season, Tigres are the easiest team in the league to analyze because their style is so ingrained.
Coach Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti has been at the club for over six years and the team's patient, methodical play has been refined during that time. Tigres want to hog as much possession of the ball as possible and starve the opponent of it, recycling through the midfield to wingers Sosa and Javier Aquino and waiting for opportunities to pull the opposition out of place and advance forward.
Critics protest that the depth of talent at the club demands a more exciting, risky and free-flowing style, but Ferretti is unlikely to take the brake off anytime soon. He could, however, do with French striker Andre-Pierre Gignac picking up some form. The 30-year-old hasn't scored in over two months.
Standard formation: 4-4-1-1/4-3-3
Most important player: Guido Pizarro
SPI to win Apertura: 21 percent
SPI to overcome Pumas: 63.6 percent
Pumas
Rookie coach "Paco" Palencia has worked wonders with Pumas this season, especially after fans were so disappointed when the club sold star winger Ismael Sosa to Tigres. Palencia has his team set up to be more direct than the Liga MX norm and with two holding midfielders -- Kevin Escamilla and Alejandro Castro in Pumas' last game -- to provide the base.
The veteran leadership of Dario Veron, Alejandro Palacios and Gerardo Alcoba makes Pumas a tough side to break down and, like Leon, they are up at the top of the table in terms of crosses into the box and the percentage of passes that are long balls.
Standard formation: 4-2-3-1
Most important player: Fidel Martinez
SPI to win Apertura: 8.2 percent
SPI to advance vs. Tigres: 36.4 percent
Pachuca (2) vs. Necaxa (7)
Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET at Estadio Victoria; Sunday, 9:06 p.m. ET at Estadio Hidalgo
Pachuca
Diego Alonso's team is the best side to watch in Liga MX. The free-scoring Pachuca -- 36 goals in the regular season -- contains individual talents like Hirving Lozano and Franco Jara and is a strong and balanced unit. There is a reason that Los Tuzos are the reigning champions and arguably the favorite in this Liguilla.
The playoff campaign has also been boosted by the recent return of Rodolfo Pizarro from injury. The 4-2-3-1 formation offers both the ability for Pachuca to take advantage of transitions from defense to attack, as well as the possibility to control the ball. And Los Tuzos are capable of either.
Standard formation: 4-2-3-1
Most important player: Rodolfo Pizarro
SPI to win Apertura: 25.4 percent
SPI to advance against Necaxa: 71.4 percent
Necaxa
"Poncho" Sosa has molded a highly efficient and well-organized team this season. And with only one defeat in its past 12 Liga MX games, recently promoted Necaxa comes into the playoffs without much pressure and a realistic hope of causing an upset.
Sosa's team doesn't prioritize possession and relies on sitting deeper and reducing space for the opposition to work in between the back four and midfield five. The central midfield trio of Manuel Iturra, Felipe Gallegos and Michel Garcias is extremely industrious and wingers Jesus Isijara and Edson Puch do the most damage in the attacking sense.
Standard formation: 4-3-3
Most important player: Edson Puch
SPI to win Apertura: 4.3 percent
SPI to advance against Pachuca: 28.6 percent
Chivas (4) vs. Club America (5)
Thursday, 10:30 p.m. ET at Estadio Azteca; Sunday, 7:06 p.m. ET at Estadio Chivas
Chivas
Chivas had more shots than any other team in the playoffs and created more chances in the Apertura regular season than any other team apart from Monterrey. The side had the highest amount possession (62.6 percent).
The formation Matias Almeyda employs often looks like a 4-2-4, with only one holding midfielder (Michael Perez) and the other (almost always Orbelin Pineda) as more of a box-to-box player. The message from the Argentine coach is that Chivas should be the protagonists in every game they play. And the team from Guadalajara usually is.
But where the team has been let down hasn't been in dominating games or passing percentages, but actually putting the ball in the net. Alan Pulido's return to Mexican football has been largely positive overall, but he still isn't the player who left Tigres after the World Cup.
You get the sense that if Chivas are to advance deep into the liguilla, Pulido will have to be more clinical than he has so far.
Standard formation: 4-2-1-3/4-2-4 /4-3-3
Most important player: Alan Pulido
SPI to win Apertura: 8.2 percent
SPI to get past America: 45 percent
Club America
Ricardo La Volpe may not have the reputation for being the most humble coach on the planet, but it hasn't been easy for him to come into Club America midway through the season and impose his playing style.
La Volpe relies on defenders being good at playing out from the back and on having a holding midfielder with vision in the 5-3-2 formation. At Las Aguilas, he's struggled to find those key players, but has still managed a seven-game undefeated start to his tenure as Club America coach.
The team conceded the highest amount of goals (26) of any of the playoff contenders in the regular season and will have to tighten up if Las Aguilas are to achieve a league. Another potential worry is that so much of America's attacking play still revolves around Rubens Sambueza being on form and the 32-year-old hasn't had his best season so far.
Standard formation: 5-3-2
Most important player: Rubens Sambueza
SPI to win Apertura: 14.5 percent
SPI to overcome Chivas: 55 percent