We’re almost at the halfway point of the Apertura 2010 Mexican soccer championship and the most talented teams are emerging.

The leaders
The current standings have Cementeros del Cruz Azul in the lead with 18 points, ex-champion Santos and Rayados del Monterrey with 15 points and Camoteros del Puebla with 11 points.

Top scorers
The three leading scorers so far are Christian Benítez of Santos with eight goals, Chilean Humberto Suazo of Monterrey with seven goals and Mexican Javier “Chuletita” Orozco also of Cruz Azul with six points.

Surprises of the week
The biggest surprise of the week was that two of the current leaders were hammered. Jaguares destroyed Puebla with a final score of 4-0. The Chiapanecos took advantage of the fact that they were playing on their home turf; meanwhile the Camoteros couldn’t even score the honorary goal.

The same thing happened to Santos de Torreón who traveled to Querétaro, but lost.

The Gallos Blancos de Querétaro found new life and defeated Torreón with a score of 5-2.

Results of the 7th round
In their game against Pachuca this week, the Rebaño Sagrado or Chivas de Guadalajara couldn’t maintain their 1-0 lead and allowed Pachuca to find the equalizer. Pachuca is playing miserably this season, despite being one of the leaders of Mexican soccer.

Nacho Ambríz, coach of the Gladiadores del San Luis Potosí, saved his neck by getting a hard-earned 1-0 win over Pumas this week. The way Pumas play week to week really throws me off. The team has played some games like true champions, but in others, they played like a 3rd Division team. The team hasn’t gotten its rhythm and at this point in the game, every game counts.