It's been a hectic summer for the Mexican national team, which on Thursday will play its 15th game in the last 54 days, but as the Gold Cup reaches its crescendo, Liga MX's Apertura is set to get going, with the opening games on Friday. 

Here are ten talking points heading into the season: 

Top two title challengers hail from the north 

If you were to put down money on a team to win the Apertura 2017, you'd go with one of Nuevo Leon rivals Monterrey or Tigres.

Tigres will be rejuvenated...

Liga MX is about to start another exhilarating season, where ten clubs have Mexican managers, while the other eight are led by foreigners. This season will be a good one to analyze young, new Mexican coaches like Lobos BUAP's Rafael Puente Jr. and Puebla's Rafael "Chiquis" Garcia. Queretaro's Jaime Lozano, who took over for Victor Manuel Vucetich in Week 5 of last season, has had an entire preseason to prepare the team, so his stamp will be clearer this time around.

Here are Liga MX's Pre-Apertura...

MEXICO CITY -- The race for La Trece is on. Mexico's two biggest clubs are tied at the top with 12 league titles each, with Chivas responding to Club America's recent dominance by winning the 2017 Clausura title last May.

Uncontested at the top for much of Liga MX's history, Chivas bitterly observed their fiercest rival creep up and later rise above them in the past decade. Prior to 1980, in fact, Chivas had won eight titles to Club America's three. Since then, the Mexico City giants have flipped...

Winning back-to-back titles in Mexican soccer is notoriously difficult. The playoff system, with eight of the 18 teams qualifying to the postseason, means there is an element of peaking at the right time. It is rare that a club dominates the league from start to finish.

In fact, if Mexico had a European-style league format, Club Tijuana would've won the 2016-17 campaign by nine points, but that Xolos finished top of the regular season of both the Apertura 2016 and Clausura 2017 will go...

The 2017 Clausura has come and gone, with Chivas crowned champions for the first time since 2006. We've laid out the good, the bad and the ugly of the season and named our best and most disappointing XIs. Now, our experts Tom Marshall, Nayib Moran, Cesar Hernandez and Eric Gomez make their picks for most valuable player, unsung hero and more. Have your say and vote below!

Most valuable player

Alan Pulido, FW, Chivas

This is a difficult one because Chivas' championship victory was all about...

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Chivas owner Jorge Vergara was obviously delighted to see his team win the 2017 Clausura title against Tigres on Sunday. He also suggested it could be a turning point for the club.

Chivas struggled as an institution on and off the field really ever since the 2010 Copa Libertadores final, but Vergara believes the dark days are over and this title will usher in a new era.

"This is the end and the beginning of an era," Vergara told ESPN FC on the pitch after the game.

"It's the...