Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 5y

Gignac cements his status as a Tigres legend

Round four of games in the Liga MX Apertura saw Santos Laguna win once again, Chivas pick up a vital three points and Veracruz's winless streak increase to 30 games.

Here's a run-down of the key events in Mexico this past weekend:

Santos Laguna, Queretaro, America remain unbeaten

Santos Laguna remains perfect and top of the league, following Sunday's 4-1 win over Puebla. The impressive thing for Los Guerreros is that it was achieved after playing the whole of the second half with 10 players, having gone into the break 2-1 up.

But the real surprise so far has been Queretaro. Victor Manuel Vuectich's team isn't full of big-name talent, but he has the players organized and playing together. Saturday's 2-1 comeback win over Pachuca kept Los Gallos Blancos in second position and still undefeated. The question now is whether Vucetich's team can keep it up, although an away trip to Juarez next Sunday is very winnable.

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- Toe Poke: Families in Mexico race to name babies after Gignac

The other undefeated team is Club America, who recorded an impressive 1-0 win over Toluca on Sunday in Estadio Nemesio Diez. There's been plenty of transfer activity in recent weeks at the club that could've caused some instability, but Miguel Herrera's team has carried on through it and look very solid. The only downside was a lackluster display from Giovani dos Santos on his first Liga MX start.

Next up for Las Aguilas is a trip to face Atlanta United on Wednesday in the Campeones Cup.

Gignac increases his legend at Tigres

What more can anybody say about Andre-Pierre Gignac at Tigres? After scoring a late winner against Pumas last weekend to become the club's highest goal-scorer, Tigres naturally wanted to mark the occasion and did so by serenading the French striker with mariachi ahead of kickoff and announcing that a statue would be built outside the stadium in his honor.

It wasn't exactly a bad start to Gignac's Saturday evening, but it got even better. As if to say thanks to the club and the loyal Tigres fans, Gignac managed to score a hat trick in the first 23 minutes of the game against Necaxa.

Tigres cruised to a 3-1 victory and are just behind the top three on nine points from their four games.

Veracruz hit the 30 mark

Veracruz's winless run is now up to 30 games. But while the club has been abysmal on and off the field for years, Friday's 2-1 loss at home to Atlas was bizarre and slightly unlucky.

Veracruz fans had posted letters online beforehand imploring the players to give everything, to not let the run extend any more. A game against Atlas in Estadio Luis "Pirata" Fuente appeared to be winnable and fans showed up to support Veracruz.

The players responded. Cristian Menendez put Veracruz 1-0 up in the 11th minute. And minutes before half-time Colin Kazim-Richards had a penalty to extend the lead.

But that's when the wheels came off. Kazim-Richards not only pushed the penalty wide, but injured himself in the process, needing to be stretchered off.

The confidence then drained from a team enduring such a horrid run. Atlas won through second half goals from Javier Correa and Osvaldo Martinez, with defender Jorge Segura producing the play of the game when he cleared a Veracruz effort off the line acrobatically with his head.

As bad as it was for Veracruz, it was also possibly the most captivating game of the weekend.

Positive wins for Chivas, Cruz Azul over Liga MX newcomers

Chivas secured what turned out to be a comfortable 3-0 win over San Luis on Saturday, while Cruz Azul also managed a 2-0 victory against recent Liga MX arrival FC Juarez.

The victory for Chivas boosted Tomas Boy's position as head coach and provides a shot of confidence for a squad that came into the season under a cloud of doubt. There may still be room for improvement -- Oribe Peralta certainly hasn't impressed since arriving from America -- but the Guadalajara team tentatively looks to be improving and is in the playoff spots.

For Cruz Azul, it was a nervous first half in Estadio Azteca, but the second 45 minutes saw an improvement and it was a comfortable victory in the end.

These are early days for Juarez and San Luis in Liga MX, but neither has set the league alight so far.

La Volpe on the ropes at Toluca

If Queretaro is the surprise at the top end of the table, there's no doubt that seeing Toluca in 18th is also a shock.

Losing to Club America at home isn't a disaster in itself and Toluca was much-improved compared to performances in the preceding weeks of the Apertura. But the bottom line is that Toluca is a side aiming to win the title and one point from four is poor.

Coach Ricardo La Volpe's job may be under threat, but the Argentine was open in calling for new signings to bolster his squad. Next weekend's trip to Monterrey doesn't provide the easiest platform for Toluca to win its first game of the campaign and a loss would pile more pressure on La Volpe.

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