Liga MX Review: Are the Olympics Ruining Pachuca's Chances of Defending Their Title

No Liga MX team, or its supporters, suffered more during the past weekend than Pachuca.

Many might make the argument for Atlas, who scored two own-goals, or a nine-man Veracruz side that had to defend against America, but Los Tuzos had it worse. Let me explain.

Mexico's Olympic soccer 5-1 victory against Fiji on Sunday in the group stage of the tournament felt very bittersweet for Pachuca fans.

That morning, three of the five players from Los Tuzos' roster with El Tri in Brazil were given the start: Hirving Lozano, Erick Gutierrez and Rodolfo Pizarro. Although Gutierrez was highly impressive with his four goals against Fiji, the same couldn't be said for either Lozano or Pizarro.

Lozano, who has struggled to meet lofty expectations, was substituted out during halftime. The 22-year-old Pizarro fractured his right fibula during the 35th minute and has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament.

Pizarro—and injured America striker Oribe Peralta, who broke his nose—will be replaced by alternates Raul Lopez and Carlos Fierro. Lopez, like Pizarro, Gutierrez, and Lozano, is another Tuzos player. Lopez's departure for Brazil means that Pachuca will now have sent a total of six first-team players to El Tri's 2016 Olympic roster — more than any other Mexican squad. Pizarro will be heading back home to Pachuca, but will be out of action for awhile.

There was something strangely appropriate about the fact that Pachuca allowed a goal within the first 20 seconds of their match on Sunday against Toluca just as El Tri was finishing off Fiji in Brazil. During the away match, Los Tuzos struggled to create much in the attack and were desperate for a player like Lozano or Pizarro to take charge. Even with more possession, the team faltered against Los Diablos Rojos and only managed three shots on target.

During the eventual 2-0 loss, Pachuca was forced to give minutes to 18-year-old Francisco Venegas and 16-year-old Erick Sanchez, who was making his Liga MX debut. Now that Lopez will be heading to Rio, Los Tuzos will once again have to find another backup player to take over a starting role during the next game.

It wasn't much of a surprise that the talented Pachuca team was able to lift last season's 2016 Clausura trophy. Yet, as evidenced this weekend, this success has come at a price.

To make matters more difficult, Pachuca has a match lined-up against Liga MX giants Tigres during this month. And the team might be missing their Olympic based players until at least the 21st should Mexico find a way to once again make it to the Gold or Bronze medal game. Although the rest of the country will be rooting for El Tri to regain the Gold, there will be numerous Pachuca fans back at home who will see their chances of another league title slowly slipping away.

Los Tuzos aren't the only Liga MX team that is hurting because of the Olympics. Chivas, who sent four players to Rio, looked lackluster in the 0-0 draw against Queretaro on Saturday. Los Rojiblancos dominated possession against Los Gallos Blancos but couldn't find a way to find the back of the net. Chivas could have benefitted from being able to substitute in players like Marco Bueno or Carlos Cisneros, who are both in Brazil.

Luckily for Pachuca, and Chivas, the Apertura competition is far from over. Even in the aforementioned worst-case scenario, Los Tuzos will have their full roster — without perhaps Pizarro — by Week 7. With a total of 17 games scheduled for the regular season, Pachuca should easily have plenty of matches to compensate for lost time.

However, there will be many bothered Pachuca fans who will feel that there was no opportunity to build off of last season's title. Instead of maintaining momentum, there is now a decent chance that the club will struggle during August.

As long as a significant portion of their first-team is gone, it's difficult to imagine that Los Tuzos will gain points in the Apertura. By the time that the final week of the regular season rolls around, Pachuca supporters might be left wondering what could have been if the Olympics didn't alter their chances of a second consecutive title.

Notes from Week 4 of the 2016 Apertura

• Miguel "Piojo" Herrera and Xolos are off to a fantastic start in the Apertura. After defeating Cruz Azul 2-1 last Saturday, Tijuana has now moved up to first place in the Liga MX table.

• Tigres are the only club left in the Liga MX that has not allowed a goal. Thanks to a goal from French international striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, Los Auriazules sneaked past Chiapas with a narrow 1-0 victory.

• With a hat-trick for Los Rayados, Argentine striker Rogelio Funes Mori led Monterrey to a noteworthy 3-0 win against Leon on Saturday. Despite the win, manager Antonio Mohamed has only been able to collect five points from the first four games of the tournament.

• In a match that had three red cards, 10-man America recovered from a 2-0 deficit and defeated 9-man Veracruz 4-2 on Saturday night. Colombian Carlos Darwin Quintero was near-perfect with his goal and two assists for Las Aguilas.