Mexico brings college classic football rivalry to its professional league

Mexico’s brand new professional football league – the Liga de Futbol Americano Professional (LFA) – is trying to attract the college fans to the stadiums. One of the proposals involves two of their six teams: the Condors and Eagles.

Both teams are inspired by prominent college squads Mexico. In the case of the Condors it is the Pumas CU while the Eagles look to the Águilas Blancas IPN. The battle between the Condors and Eagles this weekend has thus been dubbed the “Clásico Profesional” by Mexican football fans.

Why are the fans calling the game like this? Well, if we take a look at the roster of each team it seems obvious. The Eagles roster contains 14 players who went to Águilas Blancas IPN at college; while the Condors have 11 athletes from Pumas CU. This gives their followers the perfect excuse to revive one of the most epic rivalries in the ONEFA (one of the two college leagues in Mexico) at a professional level.

Although the Condors are formed by a large number of players from Pumas CU, the history of the team is based on one of the most successful and attractive teams of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The “Cóndores” was a squad that played from 1970 to 1988 and then it was replaced by the Pumas we know now-a-days.

The Cóndores won 10 national championships and their most important rival was Águilas Blancas. The rivalry continued although the team vanished and that is one of the main reasons all the fans of that team are trying to reinstall the duel at a professional level.

In the first season of the Liga de Fútbol Americano (LFA) in Mexico, this duel ended with one win for each team. First, the Condors defeated their rivals 30-28 in the beginning of the campaign. Then, the Eagles took revenge with a final score of 19-0 in the fourth week, achieving the first shutout win of the year.

Now, the reality of the teams is totally different. The Eagles, coached by José Campuzano, are having a great start this season. The team defeated the defending champion Mayas in the first week and then traveled to Monterrey and handed league newcomers, the Fundidores, their second loss.

The Condors on the other hand, blew a four point lead in the first half against the Raptors in the first week and ended up losing 13-10. Last weekend, they had a terrible game against the Mayas and were defeated by a lopsided score of 64-16. In the second half of that game, the defense gave up 30 points while the offense could not score.

In other action this weekend in the LFA, the unbeaten Raptors will face the winless Fundidores while the defending champion Mayas take on the Dinos, both teams with 1-1 records.