Colombian goalkeeper Kevin Mier's Cruz Azul will host Costa Rican Keylor Navas' Pumas UNAM tomorrow, in the first leg of the Mexican soccer Clausura final that will pose a parallel head-to-head match between local coaches.

The old rivalry between both teams will be an additional ingredient to the decisive series for the championship, in which the Blues of strategist Joel Huiqui will seek their tenth championship, while the university students of coach Efraín Juárez want to win the eighth.

This is a duel with a reserved prognosis. Although the Pumas were the best team in the regular phase with the best attack and the second best defense, they were unable to win in the quarterfinals and semifinals. They surpassed their rivals after tying the series and thanks to their best performance in the qualifying phase.

Pumas tied 6-6 with América and advanced favored by a penalty missed by Henry Martín at the end of the second leg that could have given the azulcremas the pass. Against Pachuca, they lost 1-0 on the visit and won by the same margin in their field.

The demonstrations of the light blue team were different, as they finished third in the standings, but eliminated Atlas 4-2 and Chivas de Guadalajara 4-3.

The Huiquí team will go out this Thursday to impose conditions at home, hoping that Mier will show his level and not fail at zero hour, as he did in two of the last three championships and in the semifinal of this tournament against Guadalajara.

He is a very talented goalkeeper and if he maintains his concentration he will contribute a lot to the Blues, in a duel with the legendary Navas, who was a Real Madrid figure.

After guaranteeing order at the back, Cruz Azul will go on offense with the Nigerian Christian Ebere and the Argentines José Paradela and Agustín Palavecino, who will try to defeat Navas, with seven goals allowed in the last four games of his team.

Although they will settle for a draw to decide the final on Sunday in their stadium, the Pumas will try to do damage with the Paraguayan Robert Morales, the Brazilian Juninho and the Panamanian Adalberto Carrasquilla.

It will be the first time in more than a decade that the final is played by two teams with Mexican coaches and it remains to be seen who is more skilled between Huiqui and Juárez, coaches with different styles; the first, sober; the second, explosive.

Cruz Azul won its most recent title in the Clausura 2021 tournament, while Pumas did so in the Clausura 2011, which means that both teams are obsessed with reigning to stop the streak without championships.