Blanco gone, but Mexican Apertura will be great race

Germán Villa (yellow jersey) and América face the challenge of a season without Cuauhtémoc Blanco, a club icon for 15 years. Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

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For a large portion of Mexican soccer supporters, the Apertura 2007 season will kick off with one overwhelming theme: there is life after Cuauhtémoc Blanco.

The Mexican national-team hero and Club América icon is trying to lead the Chicago Fire to the MLS Cup title and he'll have no presence in the Mexican league for the first time since 2002, when he was property of Spanish outfit Real Valladolid.

Nevertheless, the departed superstar's absence will likely end up as a mere footnote as clubs will try and leave their mark on the campaign and in the history books. Pachuca's dominance will be put to the test in what appears to be a wide-open race for the Apertura '07 crown.

New faces

Perhaps the most significant player move within the league was Adolfo "Bofo" Bautista's departure from Chivas de Guadalajara. The talented but enigmatic Bautista will try to inject life into an otherwise nondescript Jaguares side. Bofo bled red-and-white since joining the club for the Clausura '04 season. Temper tantrums and a sour attitude forced Chivas' hands, though, and Bautista was banished to relative exile.

Bruno Marioni will once again wear red in Mexico. The former Toluca striker will now defend the rojinegros of Atlas. Marioni was a prolific scorer in his one season with Toluca as the Argentine had 15 goals during the Clausura '06 campaign. But after a brief and largely unsuccessful spell with Boca Juniors, Marioni returns to Mexico in search of more hardware. While the Clausura '06 crown eluded him, Marioni was a key part of Pumas' '04 championship squads.

While not as successful as Marioni, Luis Ángel Landín is just as dangerous up top. Now with Morelia, Landín proved as much during his final four seasons with Pachuca. He broke through with eight goals in the Clausura '06 season but finished his career with los Tuzos as their super-sub as he never could land a full-time starting role. Such issues appear to be in the past as Landín has been handed the task of scoring goals with Morelia. With the service from fellow newcomer Diego Martínez, Landín should blossom for the Michoacán-based club.

Big losses

While América still features talented players throughout the lineup, such as Juan Carlos Mosqueda, Guillermo Ochoa and Salvador Cabañas, the club's leader is gone. For las Águilas, dealing with the move should have been something the club did during the preseason. Though the team struggled in SuperLiga, América's last match -- a 3-2 win over Morelia -- gives it some much-needed confidence heading into the season opener against newly promoted Puebla.

Pachuca's chances of repeating took a severe blow when the club shipped defender Aquivaldo Mosquera to Spanish side Sevilla. One of the best defenders in Mexico, Mosquera's presence will be missing along the club's back line. Defenders Fausto Pinto, Marvin Cabrera and Fernando Salazar will need to compensate for Mosquera's absence and hope youngster Marco Pérez can develop quickly.

Chivas, meanwhile, will miss Bautista on the field. While management won't have the distraction of a blow-up between player and coach seemingly every other week, the club will struggle to fill his role as Guadalajara made no significant moves in the offseason. Still a top producer of talent in Mexico, the club must hope either Jesús Padilla or imports Omar Arellano and Sergio Santana fill the void.

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