In Mexico, León Is on Top Henry Romero/Reuters León goalkeeper William Yarbrough (wearing gloves), whose family moved from Texas to Mexico 30 years ago, helped his club to the Liga MX Apertura title. The culmination of the Apertura (opening) season Sunday night did not quite rise to the suspense and drama of a Mexican telenovela, but it came pretty close. More than 100,000 fans were packed into Estadio Azteca, most of them clad in the canary yellow of the home team, Club América, for the return match against León. The story lines were many and juicy: the two clubs" owners, Carlos Slim (León) and Emilio Azcárraga (América), are billionaire telecommunication giants; León is led by the Mexican international defender Rafael Márquez, a veteran of his country's national team who also played for Barcelona and had a less-than-fruitful run with the Red Bulls of Major League Soccer; León goalkeeper William Yarbrough, 24, was born in Mexico to parents who moved south of the border from Texas 30 years ago; and Miguel Herrera was in his final game as the coach of América before leaving to take over the national team as it prepares for the World Cup in Brazil. The teams entered the second leg of the two-game Apertura finals with León holding a 2-0 lead after the first match last week. On Sunday, León's Argentine striker Mauro Boselli (who scored five goals in the playoffs) gave his team a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute before América regained some hope on an own goal. But second-half goals by Juan González and then Edwin Hernández, coupled with the sending off of Francisco Rodríguez, gave León the 3-1 victory, 5-1 on aggregate. "I'm very happy, I've worked very hard for this," Márquez, 34, told Mexican television after the game. A lot of people had written me off to the verge of retirement. Today I've shown with Club León that I've given my all to achieve this. The Liga MX crown was the first domestic title of Márquez's career. In addition, Márquez was instrumental as Mexico's staggering quest for a spot in the World Cup came down to a home-and-away playoff series against New Zealand for a berth in Brazil. It was a series that Mexico won handily and that possibly has thrust the veteran defender back into the picture for Herrera's World Cup squad. That remains to be seen. Yarborough, the León keeper who was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, after his parents left the United States, played a strong game in goal, making several important saves. He has never appeared internationally for Mexico or the United States, though he was on Mexico's roster for Olympic qualifying for the 2012 Games, a tournament won by Mexico in England. "People think I'm German, I'm from the U.S. or they think I'm from anywhere but Mexico," he told MLSsoccer.com last year. "The first reaction of everyone is, "Oh, you speak Spanish.' " The two clubs" owners are among the richest men in Mexico, if not the world. Slim, who owns a stake in The New York Times, owns a minority share in León (and a piece of the Pachuca club). Through his digital company, American Movil, he is a rival of Azcárraga's Televisa network. American Movil controls most of the Mexican (and Latin American) mobile phone market and Televisa controls a comparable share of the country's broadcast audience. Slim has taken Leon's TV rights to Fox Sports and Uno TV Noticias. The championship was the sixth for Leon, but its first since Slim, 73, became involved in the club. According to The Associated Press, Slim entered the locker room after the first-leg match and presented each player with iPads and iPhones, telling the players not to lose their focus for the return game.