FRISCO, Texas -- The sixth edition of InterLiga kicks off on Friday when Toluca and Morelia meet at Pizza Hut Park. Between them, the two clubs have six InterLiga appearances.
Toluca enters 2009 just a few weeks removed from winning their ninth championship in team history. On December 14, Los Diablos Rojos won the Apertura title by defeating Cruz Azul on penalty kicks for their first piece of hardware since 2005.
Chilean-born striker Hector Mancilla, who came over from Veracruz in July 2008, had a big impact for his new side, leading the team with seven goals. Defender Diego De La Torre was second with three tallies.
There will also be a few new faces in this event for Toluca. Defender Jose Olvera, who scored a controversial game-tying goal in a 2007 SuperLiga match against FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, is on loan from Chivas de Guadalajara.
Also new is striker Sergio Santana, also formerly with Chivas. He will now don the shirt for Toluca, the same side he faced in May 2000 when he made his Mexican Primera Division debut with Pachuca FC. Santana has made seven appearances for the Mexican national team.
With these two entering the team, midfielder Sergio Ponce heads to Chivas. He had played for Toluca since 2001 and was front and center for three championship teams.
However, the star of the club's title run has been 39-year-old Argentine-born goalkeeper Hernan Cristante, who didn't allow a goal in a league-record 762 straight minutes. Cristante has more games than any other active foreign-born player in the Primera Division.
As for Morelia, they enter InterLiga 2009 after finishing sixth in the 2008 Apertura with a 4-5-3 record, but the club played in many close matches as Las Monarcas' goal differential was a solid +7.
Another important contributor was Peruvian-born newcomer Andres Mendoza, who led Apertura with 10 goals. "El Condor" was a transfer from Romanian club Steaua FC who also has made 36 appearances with the Peruvian national team.
This year marks Las Monarcas' fourth trip to InterLiga, an event that they have not fared well in thus far. Morelia's all-time record is just 1-7-1, with their lone win coming on January 10, 2007 when they handed Tecos a 3-1 defeat at Robertson Stadium in Houston.
Morelia has met Toluca twice in the event, in 2004 and in 2008 with both matches ending in defeat. On January 9, Los Diablos Rojos prevailed 3-1 at the Home Depot Center and on January 4, 2004, in the first-ever Interliga, Toluca won 1-0 in a match played in Stockton, California.
Las Monarcas have also struggled mightily at Pizza Hut Park, where they are 0-3-0 all-time and have been outscored by their opposition 6-1. Morelia's lone goal in Frisco came on January 8, 2006 when they fell 2-1 to CF Pachuca.
Toluca has also struggled in Frisco, losing their only match at PHP on January 6, 2008, when they fell 1-0 to Club America. Los Diablos Rojos have never won an InterLiga match played in Dallas as they are also 0-2-0 at the Cotton Bowl, losing 2-1 to Jaguares in 2005 and 2-1 to Santos in 2004.
In 2008, Los Diablos Rojos got two goals in InterLiga from Vicente Sanchez, who has since moved on to Germany. Christian Giminez, now with CF Pachuca, also found the back of the net for Toluca. However, Brazilian-born midfielder Zinha, who had a goal in Toluca's 3-1 win over Morelia last January, does return.
As for Las Monarcas, they scored just one goal in last year's event and it came in that aforementioned 3-1 loss to Toluca. Morelia's lone tally came from forward Ever Guzman, who has been with the side since 2004.
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