Mexico's self-proclaimed 'Grand Warlock' has predicted hosts Brazil will win the World Cup and that violent protests will continue during the event.

Antonio Vazquez also claimed the World Cup would not only be a battle between teams but a "magical war" between sorcerers trying to influence results.

Mexico's first game is against Cameroon at the 45,000-seater Arena das Dunas in Natal on June 13, the day after the competition kicks off.

"It's evident that in addition to a football war there will be magical war," said Mr Vazquez.

"Imagine that on June 13, which is St Anthony's day, and that we have all the advantages to win against Cameroon, 3,000 warlocks that have paid to be there at the stadium. So we always need to counterbalance this situation."

He added: "Brazil is going to win. And all things have been made so it can be that way. I'm going to tell you something now: watch out for the social disturbances that will take place in Brazil. They will be strong."

Helped by his assistants, Vazquez performed rituals to protect Mexico's team during the World Cup.

After Cameroon, Mexico will play Brazil on June 17, with their final group A game against Croatia on June 23.

The World Cup, which runs from June 12 to July 13, has been dogged by protests over the cost of staging it and delays to stadium construction.

[readon1 url="http://web.orange.co.uk/article/sports/Warlock_warns_of_magic_war_at_World_Cup"]Source:web.orange.co.uk [/readon1]

Bucerías, the Riviera Nayarit’s Wind Capital, will be hosting the most important stop on the National Tour of the Mexican Kitesurf Association from May 16-18.

As the leading domestic destination with certified clean beaches, the Riviera Nayarit welcomes everyone to this event, which continues to grow in participation. This year there are 700 registered swimmers—double the number of the first tournament held in 2011.

The Twelfth Annual Tournament of Copa Vallarta Soccer will be held in different areas of Puerto Vallarta from May 14 until May 18, where both males and females will be competing in multiple categories.

The Puerto Vallarta Open 2014 came to an end on Sunday after six days of competition among the best boys and girls beach volleyball pairs worldwide .

led by the mayor, Ramón Guerrero Martínez, and state and federal authorities, along with representatives of the International Volleyball Federation, announced the award winners of the women's teams. the Brazilians took home the first and second place, while China conquered the third place.

The Mayor of Vallarta awarded the third place medal to the Chinese winners, Xue and XY Xia, then congratulated the winners of the tournament Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas, and second place, Juliana da Silva and Maria Antonelli of Brasil.

This tournament was broadcast in Mexico and in 180 countries worldwide, reaching more than 650 million viewers who not only enjoyed the excitement of beach volleyball, but also the landscape and natural beauty and warmth of our city.

Puerto Vallarta Open 2014

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, May 10, 2014—Enjoying the friendliness of the people, the warmth of the temperatures, the smoothness of the imported sand and even the moderate humidity that hovered on the Playa Camarones complex, Latvia’s second-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins toppled Italy’s 14th-seeded twin brothers Paolo Ingrosso/Matteo Ingrosso Saturday to capture the men’s gold medal at the double-gender US$150,000 FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open, the third event on the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar.

Sunday’s event-ending women’s schedule will have the internationally-televised semifinals, bronze medal match and gold medal finale on the picturesque purpose-built complex on Playa Camarones.

GOLD MEDAL MATCH
Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins, who spent one month training at a beach resort in Egypt that is similar weather conditions to what they faced in this tournament in Puerto Vallarta, defeated Italy’s P. Ingrosso/M. Ingrosso in straight sets, 21-17, 21-15 in 44 minutes before an enthusiastic crowd enjoying the first FIVB World Tour held in Puerto Vallarta.

With Italy’s methodical Ingrosso twins coming out of the gate fast, they started the gold medal match with ease and fluidity using a ‘side out’ plan with few mistakes to take the early lead, eventually increasing it to 19-17 before Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins hard-hitting and aggressive-playing rallied to the first set 21-17. In the second set the start was totally different as the Lavtia’s more confident Samoilovs/J. Smedins burst out to a 4-1 lead before extending it twice to eight point margins at 14-16 and 18-10 and the set and match ended on a Samoilovs block of a P. Ingrosso kill attempt.

Both 12-year FIVB veterans, Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins, who teamed up last year on the advice of their parents and achieved the FIVB World Ranking No. 1 spot, have played 16 FIVB World Tour events together with eight final four appearances including three gold medals. In the first two events this year, the Latvian duo has two final fours including a silver medal last week in Shanghai.

Lavtia’s gold medal winners ended their first trip to Puerto Vallarta with an unblemished 7-0 record including winning all 14 sets they played, the FIVB gold medal and they will share $11,000 in prize money for their fourth career FIVB World Tour gold medal as a team. Playing in their 16 FIVB World Tour event together, the Latvian duo now have nine final four finishes as well since becoming a team at the start of the 2013 season.

Looking back on the tournament and the gold medal match, Latvia’s Samoilovs said, “We started tentatively in all of our matches here in Mexico but in all of them we just kept getting stronger and were able to win all of them. Against the Italians, whom we only played against once before last year in Durban (So. Africa), we were about unsettled at first but when we found our grove we didn’t make many mistakes and the momentum built up to where we ended up with a much easier win in the second set. This was a great place for us to play and we look forward to the opportunity to return again. The sand was remarkable in texture and stayed cool even when it was very, very hot.”

Italy’s Ingrosso twins have played on the FIVB World Tour since 2008 and this was their first final four finish and first silver medal. They were also attempting to help Italy win three consecutive FIVB World Tour gold medals as the first two tour stops this year in China (Fuzhou and Shanghai) were both won by Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo. Prior to this year, Italy had never won a men’s gold medal on the FIVB World Tour.

With their best career finish on the FIVB World Tour, Italy’s P. Ingrosso/M. Ingrosso leave Puerto Vallarta with a 6-1 tournament record, the silver medal and they will also have $8,000 in prize money to divide up.

MEXICO WINS BRONZE MEDAL
Giving their home country fans something to cheer about in the bronze medal match, Mexico’s top-seeded Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen came out strong and then gallantly held on overcome Germany’s eighth-seeded Eric Koreng/Finn Dittelbach, winning the first set 21-16, dropping the second 18-21 and then rallying in the deciding third set to win the match 21-19 in a very heated 62 minutes, the third-longest match of the men’s tournament.

In recording the highest finish in the history of the FIVB World Tour for Mexico, Ontiveros/Virgen won the bronze medal by taking the third set that saw them tie the score at 11-11 and then exchange points well past the regulation 15 total of points. Counting the 11-11 score, the set was tied 11 times before Germany’s Dittelbach went wide left on a kill attempt to end the set and match.

Extending themselves to the limit, Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen have both played in FIVB World Tour events for more than seven years, but together this was their eighth event and this is the first final four and first bronze medal recorded by a team from Mexico. Their highest previous finish was a ninth place that they earned this year in Fuzhou.  Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen leave Puerto Vallarta with not only the bronze medal, but also the $6,000 prize for third place.

A veteran of 12 FIVB seasons, Koreng has only played six FIVB tournaments with Dittelbach and the pair has one final four last year in Anapa, Russia. Koreng has one FIVB career gold medal, 2010 in Stavanger, Norway. After their bronze medal match loss on Saturday, Germany’s Koreng/Dittelbach leave Puerto Vallarta with official fourth-place finishes and $4,500 to split in prize money.

SEMIFINAL RESULTS
In the first semifinal, Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins held off the attack from Germany’s Koreng/Dittelbach to win in twin sets, 21-17, 21-18 in 47 minutes.

Both sets were close as the two teams battled back and forth with neither taking huge leads.  In the deciding second set, the teams were tied at 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15 before Latvia scored twice on aggressive net play by both Samoilovs and Smedins to take a two point margin that they never relinquished.

With Latvia ahead at 18-16 following two Dittelbach hitting errors and a Samoilovs kill, Germany called a medical time out as Dittelbach required treatment for overheating in the hot, humid playing conditions. When play resumed, Dittelbach promptly served an ace to close to 17-18 and after Latvia went to 20-18, Koreng saved match point with a poke down the line over Samoilovs but Smedins ended the match on the next rally with his own poke to the left corner for the win.

In the second semi, Italy’s P. Ingrosso/M. Ingrosso outlasted the valiant effort of home country favorites in Mexico’s Ontiveros/Virgen in two sets, 28-26, 21-17 in 55 minutes as the Italian twin brothers now move to their first FIVB World Tour gold medal match.

[readon1 url="http://www.fivb.org/viewPressRelease.asp?No=45639&Language=en#.U2-klfldXUU"]Source:www.fivb.org[/readon1]

In the marathon first set, the score was tied from 20-20 for seven consecutive points to 26-26 when Paulo Ingrosso scored on a kill down the middle and then ended the set with a vicious block at the net of Virgen. In the second set, there were seven ties and three lead changes with the Italians taking the lead for good at 12-11. With the score 19-17, Matteo Ingrosso hammered a kill and Paulo Ingrosso ended the set and match with a poke to the right corner over Virgen.

HAPPY 300TH
The FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open is the 300th FIVB men’s event since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 263rd FIVB women’s tournament since each started play in 1992.

The second of 10 FIVB Open events in 2014, the FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open had men’s action ran from Tuesday through Saturday and has women’s competition running from Wednesday through Sunday. The tournament format had a one-day qualification tournament in to determine the final eight spots in each gender’s 32-team main draw tournaments followed by round-robin pool play and a single-elimination bracket for the final 24 teams.

VIVA MEXICO
The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) international tour is back in Mexico for the first time since 2006 for its first event in Puerto Vallarta being held on Playa Camarones adjacent to the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort and Convention Center. The FIVB World Tour has had eight previous tour stops in Mexico. Acapulco hosted double-gender events in 1999, 2005 and 2006 and Rosarito hosted one double-gender tour stop in 2000.

Mexico is also hosting the Inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball U17 World Championships this year in Acapulco (July 15-20).

NET TIME
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland as the international governing body for the Olympic sports of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball, the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar features a record purse of US$10.2 million with a season that extends from late April to mid-December competing at 21 venues in 18 countries.  This year’s FIVB World Tour includes a record 10 FIVB Grand Slam events, the inaugural Grand Slam Finale and 10 FIVB Open Tournaments throughout the world, helping expand the door for development of the sport even further.

The 10 FIVB Open tournaments in 2014, seven double-gender, two men only and two women only, have $150,000 total purses for the double gender events and $75,000 for the single-gender competitions.

Veteran defender Carlos Salcido was the biggest surprise in Mexico's 23-man World Cup team announced Friday by coach Miguel Herrera.

It was the first call-up for Salcido since Herrera took over as Mexico coach late last year. Salcido was on Mexico's team for the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

Herrera left off two big names — goalkeeper Moises Munoz, who played for Herrera when he coached Club America, and midfielder Javier Aquino of Spain's Villarreal.

Mexico almost missed out on a sixth consecutive World Cup, needing a two-game playoff with New Zealand to qualify. It faces tough competitions in Group A with games against Brazil, Croatia and Cameroon.

El Tri, who qualified for the competition via the Concacaf playoff have an experienced roster including Rafa Marquez and Javier Hernandez.

Mexico are in Group A and face Cameroon in Natal on June 13 in their opening game, before playing hosts Brazil in Fortaleza on June 17 and then Croatia in Recife on June 23.

Goalkeepers: Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul), Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)

Defenders: Paul Aguilar (Club America), Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen), Miguel Layun (Club America), Rafael Marquez (Leon), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Diego Reyes (Porto), Francisco Javier Rodriguez (Club America), Carlos Salcido (Tigres)

Midfielders: Isaac Brizuela (Toluca), Marco Fabian (Cruz Azul), Hector Herrera (Porto), Juan Carlos Medina (Club America), Luis Montes (Leon), Carlos Pena (Leon), Jose Juan Vazquez (Leon)

Forwards: Giovani Dos Santos (Villarreal), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Raul Jimenez (Club America), Oribe Peralta (Santos), Alan Pulido (Tigres

[readon1 url="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/09/mexico-world-cup-squad-salcido-in-aquino-out"]Source:www.theguardian.com [/readon1]

Mexico has opened a football Hall of Fame, but the country is struggling to live up to expectations on the pitch.

Halls of Fame are notoriously awkward beasts in the football zoo. In the formalised, enfranchised world of United States sports the concept works. But soccer is another stage entirely.

The latest attempt to create a lasting ‘Gotha’ to the great names of the game is alive and kicking in Pachuca, some 50 miles northwest of Mexico City. The latest inductees – whether they like it or not, whether they are alive to appreciate it or not – have just been voted in.

Pachuca may appear an odd venue but, in its context, no more odd than was Preston as a site for the original football museum in England.

Here one of the first Mexican clubs was founded by British miners. Since millionaire businessman Jesus Martinez Patino bought control a decade ago Pachuca have won five championships, four CONCACAF Champions’ Cups, the 2007 SuperLiga (defeating LA Galaxy) and one Copa Sudamericana in 2006 (thus becoming the first CONCACAF team to win a CONMEBOL tournament).

Mexican football has been powered for years by the domineering command of the Televisa broadcasting network. Televisa owns America and has ‘hidden’ hands in several other clubs.

The outcome is a north/south divide to test the diplomatic skills of Justino Compean, the Mexican federation president who lost out last year by one vote to American Sunil Gulati for Chuck Blazer’s old CONCACAF seat on the FIFA executive committee.

Televisa has a long football history, right back to the days when the owning dynasty’s original Emilio Azcarraga was best friends with Joao Havelange. In those days his chief lieutenant Guillermo Canedo headed the Mexican federation and was on the FIFA exco.

No wonder, looking back, that Mexico’s delegation had to do little more than say hello to beat the United States and Canada to short-notice host rights for the 1986 World Cup after Colombia’s withdrawal.

But inter-club jealousy is far from the only challenge for Compean & Co. Increasingly Mexican football is being assaulted by the sort of Barras Bravas gang hooliganism which has long blighted Argentina.

Mid-March saw fan violence in Guadalajara which prompted a public outcry and prompted the government to propose legislation with ramped-up jail terms for miscreants.

Here football holds up a mirror to the nation. This is not the Mexico which hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, frozen in time by the political monopoly of the PRI which governed for more than 70 years.

Ultimately, a perfect illustration of Acton’s Dictum, the PRI corrupted from within. The free trade agreement with the US and Canada in 1998 then freed Mexico into a vulnerable financial world.

The consequence of the subsequent crash are marked in the newspaper reports of bus heists, drug gang wars and of shootouts between police and street gangs.

In such a social context football often offers a fleeting, happy distraction. But the prospects of El Tri offering positive news during the World Cup finals are slim.

Mexico needed the fall-back rescue of the play-offs to reach Brazil and went through four national coaches in doing so. The heady days of that London Olympics gold medal triumph over Brazil in 2012 – their greatest football moment – seems an age ago.

Coach Luis Fernando Tena and many of his players have long since been transformed from heroes into scapegoats.

Not Chicharito Hernandez. He missed the Olympics but remains a superstar for his fellow countrymen in a manner which might surprise the Old Trafford faithful, used only to his rare incursions from the subs’ bench.

His contradictory status illustrates one of the self-destructive traits of the Mexican game. While Chicharito is little more than a bit-part player at Old Trafford – a trend begun under Sir Alex Ferguson not David Moyes – the very fact that he plays for Manchester United renders his superstar image untouchable back home.

That, in itself, illustrates the optimism which Mexican fans will take to Brazil as they attend the World Cup finals in force. The odds are not good on them witnessing – against Cameroon or Brazil or Croatia – anything to grace Pachuca’s Hall of Fame.

But then, in any language, football is a funny game.

Read more at: Mexico Fans Will Travel to Brazil More in Hope than Expectation

More than 200 children from San Blas, Tepic, Compostela, Santiago and Tecuala came together during the 5th year of this family-oriented tournament, which teaches sport fishing along with environmental awareness to the newer generations.

The Tepic Sport Fishing Club organized the 5th Children’s Fishing Tournament at the historic port of San Blas under the pretext of celebrating the children, but with an underlying cause directed towards creating positive social values in the younger generations.

The event took place on May 4th at Fonatur’s Tourist Marina in San Blas, and it met everyone’s expectations when it welcomed more than 200 children as participants, all of whom were accompanied by their parents every step of the way.

The kids competed under the guidance of the club members, learning the necessary techniques for catching a fish; the environmental awareness part came through when they were taught that all the fish needed to be returned to the sea.

“We as club members are very proud to be able to instill the notion of responsible fishing in the younger generations, as well as show them how to value the environment and help with the conservation of our waters, all in a family-oriented ambiance,” said Carlos Menchaca, President of the Board for the Tepic Sport Fishing Club.

The Government of the State of Nayarit and the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau were co-sponsors of this event. There were many prizes for the children, including tablets, bicycles, fishing rods and balls. They also participated in games and enjoyed a clown show, among other entertainments.

“We hold these kids’ events at the Tepic Sport Fishing Club using whatever is left over from the adult tournaments, as it is a non-profit event,” added Menchaca.

New fishing tournaments for children will be announced soon for San Blas and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, which will also be free. All those interested in participating can find more information on social media and the club page at: The 5th Children’s Fishing Tournament

With pre-rally entries at record levels, the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) has released a final event schedule for its fifth annual General Tire NORRA Mexican 1000. NORRA and its unique, vintage-flavored, on and-off road rally will cover 1,300+ miles over four days starting in Ensenada, Mexicali, Baja, Mexico on May 10th and finishing in the world-class resort destination of San Jose Del Cabo on Wednesday, May 14th.

For the first time in its history, the Mexican 1000 will start in the host city of Ensenada, Baja, Mexico, just two hours south of downtown San Diego. Much of the pre-race activity will center around Ensenada’s iconic Riviera Cultural Center, including Saturday’s General Tire “Round-Up” of historic and vintage race cars, trucks and sedans, the “Bilstein Shock Absorber Tech Inspection” and the “Walker Evans Racing Driver’s Meeting and Welcome Fiesta.”

Saturday, May 10th will also see the ceremonial start of the motorcycles classes from the Riviera, with a mixed field of vintage and modern machinery. This marks the first time that NORRA has split its two and four-wheel divisions for two days of the rally — all in the interest of increasing participant safety.

This weekend will also mark the first time that all the vintage four-wheel classes will have a stationary Technical Inspection that will also serve as a four-hour display of the historical vehicles that make the NORRA experience so unique. The General Tire Round-Up will be from 12:00 noon until 4:00pm at the Riviera Cultural Center. Race fans will also have the chance to see NORRA’s Evolution-class vehicles in the Bilstein Tech Inspection held nearby.

“We are more than excited about the progress our team has made in raising the bar once again for this year’s General Tire Mexican 1000,” explained NORRA President Mike Pearlman. “Our only goal is to make the experience for our family of racers bigger and better each year. I think we are achieving that objective in a big way for 2014. We can’t wait to see everyone next week in Ensenada.”

2014 General Tire NORRA Mexican 1000 Event Schedule

Friday, May 9 Ensenada
10:00am Media Breakfast and Press Conf. San Nicolas (Rosa Meeting Room)
12:00 – 6:00pm IRC Open – Bracket and installation San Nicolas (poolside)
1:00 – 4:00pm Motorcycle Registration San Nicolas (poolside)
Cars Pre-Registration
3:00 – 4:00pm NORRA Rally/GPS Clinic San Nicolas Rosa Meeting Room
4:00 – 6:00pm Motorcycle Pre-Tech San Nicolas (parking lot)
6:00 – 10:00pm Baja Social Club/Meyers Manx Bash Horsepower Ranch

Saturday, May 10 Ensenada to El Rosario (Motorcycles)
9:00 – 11:00am Motorcycle Tech Inspection Riviera Conv. Center
11:30 – 12:30pm Motorcycle Driver’s Meeting Riviera Conv. Center (theater)
12:30pm Motorcycle Staging Riviera Conv. Center (front)
1:00pm Motorcycle Start Riviera Conv. Center (front)
10:15pm Finish closed El Rosario (Mama Espinosa’s)
5:00 – 10:00pm Walker Evans Racing Welcome Fiesta El Rosario (Mama Espinosa’s)

Ensenada (Cars)
9:00 – 4:30pm Vehicle/Driver/Crew Registration Riviera Conv. Center (glass room)
9:00 – 6:00pm IRC Open: Bracket and installation Riviera Conv. Center (glass room)
10:00 – 12:00 noon Vintage vehicle staging (mandatory) Riviera Conv. Center (front)
12:00 – 4:00pm General Tire Vintage Round-Up & Riviera Conv. Center (front)
Bilstein Vintage Tech Inspection
11:00 – 6:00pm Bilstein Evolution Tech Inspection Riviera Conv. Center (south)
6:00 – 7:00pm Walker Evans Racing Driver’s Meeting Riviera Conv. Center (theater)
7:00 – 9:00pm Walker Evans Racing Welcome Fiesta (Includes food, drinks and live music) Riviera Conv. Center (gardens)

Sunday, May 11 El Rosario to San Ignacio (Motorcycles)
5:30am Motorcycle Staging Mama Espinosa’s
6:00am Motorcycle Start Mama Espinosa’s
8:50pm Motorcycle Finish Closed Main Plaza, San Ignacio
Ensenada to Bahia De Los Angeles (Cars)
5:00am Car Staging Riviera Conv. Center
6:00am Ceremonial Start Main Street Bridge
10:00pm Car Finish Closed Costa Del Sol, BOLA

Monday, May 12 San Ignacio to Loreto (Motorcycles)
6:30am Motorcycle Staging Main Plaza
7:00am Motorcycle Start Main Plaza
4:00pm Motorcycle Finish Closed Loreto
12:00am-11:00pm American Racing Wheel Party La Mision Hotel (pool), Loreto
Bahia De Los Angeles to Loreto (Cars)
8:00am Car Staging Costa Del Sol
9:00am Car Start Costa Del Sol
11:20pm Car Finish Closed Costa Del Sol
12:00noon-11:00pm American Racing Wheels Party La Mision Hotel (pool)

All Change to Mountain Time

Tuesday, May 13 Loreto to La Paz (Cars and Motorcycles)
5:30am Motorcycle Staging La Mision Hotel
6:00am Motorcycle Start La Mision Hotel
9:00am Car Staging La Mision Hotel
10:00am Car Start La Mision Hotel
5:40pm Motorcycle Finish Closed Downtown La Paz
9:10pm Car Finish Closed Downtown La Paz

Wednesday, May 14 La Paz to Cabo (Cars and Motorcycles)
5:30am Motorcycle Staging Grand Plaza, La Paz
6:00am Motorcycle Start Grand Plaza, La Paz
9:00am Car Staging Grand Plaza, La Paz
10:00am Car Start Grand Plaza, La Paz
1:55pm Finish Closed Main Plaza, San Jose Del Cabo
5:10pm Car Finish Closed Main Plaza, San Jose Del Cabo
7:00pm South Point Seaside Driver Awards Grand Mayan, San Jose Del Cabo

General Tire Norra Mexican 1000

[readon1 url="http://www.speedville.com/official-event-schedule-2014-general-tire-norra-mexican-1000/"]Source:www.speedville.com [/readon1]

Mexican soccer’s reigning champ faces the #2 team in regular season play

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA – May 7, 2014 - Deportes Telemundo, home of Club León, and mun2, the leading Hispanic entertainment cable network, presents the away match of the Liguilla semifinal in the Liga MX 2014 Closing Tournament with a vibrant encounter between León and Toluca, this Thursday, May 8 at 9PM EST/8PM CST/6PM PST live on mun2. The professional and experienced Deportes Telemundo sportscasting team, featuring Andrés Cantor, Sammy Sadovnik and Carlos Hermosillo, brings its expert commentary to a match that pits the current champ against the second best team in regular season play. León is out to repeat last season’s stellar performance to win the championship for the second year in a row. Every second of this eagerly awaited event will be aired live on mun2, deportestelemundo.com, the m.telemundo.com mobile page, and in high definition on the “Deportes Telemundo” mobile app.

Toluca won its tenth and last title on May 23, 2010, when it beat Club Santos Laguna in penalty kicks after a memorable save by Alfredo Talavera. The team comes to the semifinals after eliminating the Xolos de Tijuana 3-1. Toluca held the #2 spot repeatedly in regular season play and was the team with the best goal difference in the tournament.

Club León takes the field fresh off of eliminating tournament leader and favorite Cruz Azul, a feat it accomplished with two ties (1-1 in León, Guanajuato and 2-2 at Mexico City’s Estadio Azul). The tiebreaker was the number of goals scored by the away team.

The two clubs last met on the field on the 15th day of the tournament, Sunday, April 13, when Toluca won a hotly contested match 2-1 at Estadio Nemesio Díez in Mexico City. They have never played each other in short Liguilla tournaments, but they did feature in one of the most memorable tournaments in Mexican soccer back in the 1974-75 season, when the Liguilla system consisted of a series of reciprocal home and away games between four teams. The team with the most points won, with no final match like the ones played today. The game that determined the championship that year featured none other than Toluca and León. Toluca took home the title after Estupiñán scored a single goal in minute 51 of the game. Ironically, the winning lineup also featured Uruguay’s Roberto Matosas, father of current Léon coach Gustavo Matosas.

About Deportes Telemundo:

Deportes Telemundo, Telemundo Media’s sports division, is one of the United States’ leading providers of Spanish-language sports content. In addition to being “the home of the Olympic Games in Spanish in the United States,” Deportes Telemundo presents Mexican national team games in the World Cup eliminations; all Club León home games in the Liga MX; and the leading boxing program in Spanish, “Boxeo Telemundo.” It also has the TV and online rights in the US Spanish-language market to the FIFA World Cup, the world’s top soccer tournament, on all platforms (except radio) from 2015 to 2022.

In addition to top sporting events, Deportes Telemundo produces two leading sports and entertainment programs: “Titulares y más” and “Titulares Telemundo,” which present analysis of the latest sports news along with entertainment and lifestyle segments. The award-winning Deportes Telemundo team of sportscasters is led by the world-famous Andrés Cantor, with Jessi Losada, Sammy Sadovnik, Carlos Hermosillo, Leti Coo, Edgar López, Karim Mendiburu, Mirella Grisales, Ana Jurka, René Giraldo and Kaziro Aoyama.

About mun2:

mun2 is the destination for young, Hispanic adults 18-34 and 18-49, providing authentic, vibrant Latino content for the fastest growing population group in the U.S. As the fastest growing Hispanic entertainment cable network, mun2 combines the best in reality, scripted, music and sports programming to reflect the diverse lifestyle and language of its audience.  The networks’ content can be found across multiple platforms, including its award winning mun2.tv site. With offices in Los Angeles, Miami and New York, the network is part of Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal.

To find mun2 in your area, please visit: http://www.mun2.tv/get-mun2

Nearly 15,000 fans are expected to attend the FIVB World Tour Puerto Vallarta Open

The temporary stadium that will host the battles of the most powerful beach volleyball pairs in the world during the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Puerto Vallarta Open is close to completion.
Nearly 45 workers began construction on Monday on the 3,000 capacity stadium that will host third FIVB Volleyball World Tour event of the year, which starts on Tuesday and runs until Sunday.

The process of setting up the venue included importing clean sand, establishing offices for the anti-doping test area, a press room, VIP area, athlete rest area, medical service room, hydration zone and an area for the referees. The technology team also needed to enable connectivity to service the media, the FIVB and TV production.

On Saturday, flags were raised for the 26 countries that will be represented by the beach volleyball teams.

A press conference will take place Sunday, with local media and Mayor, Ramon Martinez Guerrero present.

Nearly 15,000 fans are expected to attend the tournament, which is the most important event in Puerto Vallarta in recent years.

While it will be the first FIVB international event in Puerto Vallarta, it will be the fifth time the country has hosted a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event. It will be the second of seven double-gender Open events on the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour schedule.

Previously, Acapulco had FIVB World Tour events in 1999, 2005 and 2006 and Rosarito Beach hosted a FIVB World Tour stop in 2000. In the first four events in Mexico, Brazil and the United States captured all but three of the 24 total medals.

The eleven FIVB Beach Volleyball Opens on the 2014 FIVB World Tour include seven double-gender, two men-only and two women-only tournaments, adding numerous possibilities for athletes to compete in high quality, FIVB international competition. Over the course of the year more Open events could be added to the schedule, ensuring that all five Confederations will host an FIVB event in 2014.

 Beach Volleyball World Tour