Game 10: Necaxa home

PUMAS v Necaxa
24th September 2006
CU

Video Highlights

Normally a late equaliser tells of a point saved, but here we definitely dropped two points. Necaxa have not had it very well of late, but usually play very defensive and hit on the break. Under Tuca we are playing a similar system of slow controlled possession football, building intense pressure until the opponents crack. All reports suggested Sancho would be fit again, but in the end he didn’t play, we started 5-3-2, and my hope of seeing Gonzalez and Scocco together was realised.

So, playing 5-3-2, with Espinoza as wing back on the right and Castro on defensive midfield duty. This gave us a very odd shape indeed, Espinoza was much further forward than Velarde, and Leandro playing very deep, as in the first half v Chivas. I don’t know how deliberate this is, but he stayed deep all day, and this really is a waste of his talents, I believe.

Had to put up with the bloody Fifa Fair Play anthem, as it was international fair play day (which Pumas got into the spirit of:- we received no cards at all for the first time this season), this was drowned out, however by the chanting of the names of our old boys. In fact both Jerry Galindo, and Joaquin Beltran got superb welcomes from both the players and faithful. Dario Veron introduced his month old baby to them, we chanted both Beltran’s name and the old “capitan” song, and he came over at full time to salute us. Kléber also went to shake hands with Tuca, the man who brought him to Mexico when at Tigres.

Finally we get going, and all was going according to plan. We had the early chances, and also playing according to Tuca’s preferred method: - slow possession football, attempting to build the pressure on them. Looked like coming off (23 mins) as Parejita brought down a long ball at full stretch, and full speed, inside the box and fired it across the face of goal, Ariel Gonzalez missed the ball completely. He really should have got anything on it, and it was a massive let off for Necaxa. Things got worse less than a minute later. Sideshow miscleared, Moreno was too far forward, Kléber passed to Olivera, who in a one on one with Bernal made no mistake.

It was a severe double whammy for us. Everything had been going according to plan, but giving this goal away did not appear to be in the plan at all, and we looked like we had been knocked sideways by it, taking us to half time to fully recover.

At half-time Reinaldo came on for the disappointing Espinoza, and this made our shape even odder, not sure exactly what it was, seemed like 3-4-3 (or, at times a sort of 3-2-2-3 if that makes much sense:- didn’t to me). We certainly grew throughout the second half, but unfortunately continued to squander good chances, Reinaldo and Gonzalez, and Chupa Lopez (replacing Gonzalez) all missing, or messing up, decent chances. Just when it looked like we could play all day without scoring, Parejita put in (another) good cross; Scocco had got himself into a good position, and once again made no mistake with a well taken header.

So all in all, the plan worked more or less, we had the best of it, but really should not have been in a position whereby we felt we got away with a draw, should have killed them, needed to be more vicious in front of goal. We are still doing most things right, just needs to click a little better, but I really am confident that we will be fine.

Ratings:-

Bernal – 7 - decent, always hard in a one on one, got a 7 not a six because he actually held onto a long shot, and didn’t punch it away.

Velarde – 8 – El “Chispa”, having played a complete part in all games this season, was finally subbed off. Good game again. (subbed 62 mins)
Moreno – 7 – another solid game, partly to blame for goal
Veron – 8 – Solid, organised.
Pikolin – 6 – partly to blame for the goal, but sat on Kleber quite effectively, distribution poor. Too often played team-mates into trouble with short balls, or simply hoofed it upfield to no effect.
Espinosa – 5 – disappointing again, didn’t seem to grasp the role Tuca wanted for him (subbed half time). Gave away too many silly balls.

Castro – 6 – not really his position, did ok, but I felt it was his failings which led Leandro to, too often, come back to do his job for him.
Leandro – 7 – not his best, too deep, broke a lot up, but didn’t really create much.
Parejita – 9 – MOM – another excellent showing, got knocked about hard 2nd half, ran it off. Always looking for the ball. Corners got better as day went on, and his crossing was excellent. Some lovely close control to boot. Always in space, always wanting it.

Gonzalez – 6 – another tricky one, ran all day, made some lovely moves, some great runs, nice lay-offs, but, he seemed confused with his back to goal, and finishing very poor. (subbed 65 mins)
Scocco – 9 – maybe generous, but once again great touches, nice control, can rob the ball like he is shelling peas, and of course a lovely and very important finish. Always a danger, a fascinating battle between a new hero and an old one, v Beltran.

SUBS:-
Reinaldo – 6 – half time – think he has some confidence problems in front of goal, choked a couple of times, but is growing in other aspects of his game
Morales – 6 – 62 mins – didn’t excel
Lopez – 5 – 65 mins – entered with ganas, but flattered to deceive, and also missed a good chance.

DT:-
Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti – 6 – Seems completely lost for ideas without his Antonio Sancho, needs to make sure he can find a secure system which allows Leandro to attack more. Subs: - half time, possibly “brave”, maybe brought our midfield more into it, the others, well both Espionza and Gonzalez were not on top form, so had to do something.

Cards:-
None for us, 3 for them.

Goals:-
23 mins 0-1 Pikolin gave it away, good work between Kléber and Nicolás Olivera, who entered the box alone and stuck inside Bernal’s right post.
81 mins 1-1 Scocco passed the ball out wide to Pareja, and continued his run. Pareja put in a lovely cross, finding the same Ignacio Scocco unmarked in the heart of the area, who headed home.

Crowd:-
35,000, including Salvador Reyes, manager of Los Gallos Blancos (The White Cocks) of Queretaro, who we meet next week.

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
A few draws around, and a few upsets: - Veracruz did Jaguares 3-1, and lowly Tecos did Chivas 2-1. Monterrey at 1-0 up in the Azteca had a very very very onside goal disallowed, when that happens there you know what is going to happen, and America got 1-1. Santos still search their first win of the season holding Tigres 2 all. Pachuca beat San Luis 3-0, and Toluca failed to score, nil-all with Atlas. Cruz Azul’s mad season continue, winning the first four games of the season, including an historic win in Jalisco, they now have 2 points from the last 6 games. They had a ding dong battle with Monarcas de Morelia, during which the lead changed 3 times, and ended up 4-4.

AND the day after us drawing 1-1 with them (today), Necaxa have announced their new manager: - none other than Hugo Sanchez. Legendary Mexican footballer, 5 times winner of the Pichichi (top-scorer in Spanish league), and only manager ever to win two “short” Mexican seasons back-to-back, when with Pumas. This is clearly a move to shoe him into the role he has always wanted: - Manager of the national team. That should be loads of fun; outspoken, arrogant and temperamental....

Interesting fact:-
A new feature! (There’s been nothing interesting up until now…) This weeks interesting fact is that Necaxa were the only team Beckham got a red card against in his entire time at Manchester United.

Quiz question:-
Another new feature! I mentioned that Velarde had played a complete role in all games this season, until this one. So who are the four Pumas players with 900 minutes played so far?

Group 3:- we are still in a qualifying position for the Liguilla
1st Toluca 21pts +14
2nd America 18pts +5
3rd PUMAS 16pts +4
4th Morelia 11pts -4
5th Tigres 10pts -10
6th Santos 5pts -7

Descenso bottom five:-
1.2500 San Luis 55 from 44
1.2436 Veracruz 97 from 78
1.2000 Queretaro 12 from 10
1.1667 PUMAS 91 from 78
1.1410 Santos 89 from 78

Next Up:-
Away at Queretaro, at the World Cup ’86 stadium of La Corregidora From the table above you can see how important a win there is. Also next week the Mexican “classic”, Chivas v America.

Player Profile:- José Luís “Parejita” López

The offspring of the famous must always have a tough time of it. For whilst José Luis is a good (and much-loved) first division Mexican footballer, he will be forever known by the diminutive form of his father’s nickname “Pareja”. His father, also called José Luís López, was a legend of Pumas throughout the 70’s, and is now a dentist. Parejita’s desire to pay homage to his father includes a burning wish to study dentistry.

Born 19th October 1979, he has always seemed to wear the weight of being his father’s son lightly. Rather than shunning it, he seems to be genuinely proud to follow in his footsteps, and proudly wears “Pareja” on his shirt. And nowadays, after a good game or goal the faithful do shout “Venga Pareja”, out of real respect. However, he will be forever remembered as Parejita: - a footballer and man in his own right.

Much like Gaius Caligula he seemed to initially receive the adoration of the crowd based on the high regard they had of his father. Unlike Caligula, however, he has worked hard in recent times to earn that respect in his own right. Whilst coming through the youth system at Pumas, he was briefly at Puebla, where he made his top flight debut, v Irapuato (26th August 2000, 2-1 Puebla), he played seven minutes. In the Winter 2000 tournament he played in 4 games, a total of 171 minutes for Puebla, before returning home to CU.

In the first game (2-1 loss away at Tecos 6th January 2001) he entered at half time. Amongst his team mates were Sergio Bernal, Israel Lopez., Jamie Lozano and his future manager Miguel España. In that game Joaquin Beltran had a nightmare, getting sent off after scoring an own goal. Parejita has been a first choice player from then until now. In that first season he scored 3 goals, not bettered until Clausura 2006 (4), and he is on target to better that record this season.

Wafer thin legs, and a small frame made him a natural flighty winger (rather than a stockier player, like a Ray "Butch" Wilkins), and for a long time after breaking into the first team he was all tricks and little substance. For many seasons a bit of a whipping boy for the foreigners in the stands, his attempted tricks never really amounting to anything, his loping run, and the world’s slowest step over leaving us bewildered as to why he was so loved. However he has recently transformed himself into a complete footballer. I believe he realised it was time to grow up over Christmas 2005/6, because he came back a much improved player. Gone were the step overs and showboating, in was a concentration on the requirements of the whole team, and much improved work rate.

An outrageous chip opened his account v Pachuca (one each) in the Clausura 2006. And noone who was there will forget 9th April 2006 at the Azteca. A testing cross from Beltran was met, not by the wispy child of the old Parejita, but a charging, fearless version, who made a very brave header to open the scoring, right under the noses of the America faithful. In the second half he put in the sort of cross that strikers dream of to end Marioni’s 871 minute drought, and regain us the lead. For me he was at last deserving of the adoration he had always received.

This season he has so far scored three goals, all lethally taken, his work rate has never been higher (it may even be higher than Leandro’s) he has worked hard in training, and at times seems to be leading the team – it was he who tried, unsuccessfully in the end, to focus the team and turn the Pachuca debacle around, unfortunately the team were unable to respond sufficiently to his example.

Tuca has even played him in the hole this season, but he loves taking people on down the wing, his set pieces improve all the time, as do his crosses. Now a more intelligent footballer, he positions himself well, and has movement, often creating space for Leandro to cut inside. He understands Castro’s game well, links with Leandro, and is building a great working relationship with Scocco. Off the pitch he is considered a modest and honest person, with integrity. His greatest joy is his young son, at whom his distinctive celebration is aimed. His 27th birthday is fast approaching, and if he continues to play at this level, we have many years of enjoyment ahead of us:- and we’ll forgive him his highlights, boot-changes and even the Ronaldino-style hip wiggle at 3-0 up v Monterrey.

JOSE LUIS “PAREJITA” LOPEZ

Date Of Birth:- 19th October 1979 (26 years old at the moment)
Place Of Birth:- DF, Mexico
Height:- 1.74 metres (5’ 8½”)
Weight:- 59 kgs (9 stone 4 pounds)

League & Liguilla (includes the 4 games for Puebla):-
Played:- 190
Started:- 173
Completed:- 119
On as Sub:- 17
Subbed off:- 49
Minutes Played:- 14,767
Goals:- 25
Yellow Cards:- 47
Red Cards:- 5

Click here to see a video of Pareijta (and others) as a baby

Game 9:- Chivas away

Chivas v PUMAS
Estadio Jalisco
17th September 2006

Video Highlights

24 years, six months and 28 games since we beat Chivas away. And that run continues. Tuca picked the same 11 as Wednesday. And this time Parejita didn’t change his boots.

A very defensive performance 1st half, Tuca correctly described it as a standard nil all draw:- they had the best of the first half, we had the best of the second. We defended very deep 1st half, and in Chivas’ only really convincing move of the night, we were fortunate to have the resulting goal disallowed for a very very close offside.

Both Chupa Lopez and Gonzalez were pulled off at half time for Scocco and Reinaldo. Tuca has to decide which two he wants, and give them 3 or 4 games to succeed or fail:- I would rather see Scocco and Gonzalez.

These two had the best chances of the night between them, but could not finish. They did, however get themselves into good positions, linked nicely, and could have won it for us.

So all in all, an excellent defensive performance, Bravo and Bofo kept very quiet by the lads, in fact Bofo was completely in a box, and Bravo’s frustration showing in his pathetic calls for penalties late on (the photo is one such occasion!). And I felt that overall we actually had the better chances.

We now have three consecutive clean sheets, and are building a reputation as hard to beat. 7 points from 3 games this week:- if you had offered me this before kick off v Cruz Azul, I would have bitten your hand off.

Ratings:-
Bernal – 7 – good game.

Verlarde – 8 – impressive again
Moreno – 8 – also impressive again, cool and assured - MOM
Veron – 8 – solid and dependable
Pikolin – 8 – excellent game, not his absolutely best, but no mistakes…
Castro – 6 – his waywardness is increasing game on game.

Espinosa – 6 – disappointing today, silly foul for card, should have been replaced
Leandro – 7 – had to play deep 1st half, could come further forward second half, once again a dependable leader (although Bernal was skipper in place of Sancho)
Parejita – 7 – quiet night for him, but battled hard again

Gonzalez – 6 – didn’t see anything of it (subbed half-time)
Lopez – 5 – also didn’t see anything of it, but lacked movement, very disappointed in him (subbed half-time)

SUBS (both half-time)
Reinaldo – 7 – missed a couple of good chances, but got himself into good positions, worked harder and some nice touches. Showed more movement, an improved performance
Scocco – 7 – looked lively, clearly caused them problems, has to be given 90 mins.

DT
Tuca Ferretti – 8 – anther good display – should have started with Scocco and Gonzalez, maybe should have left Gonzalez on, and should have found a way to replace Espinoza during the second half.

CARDS:-
23 mins - Espinoza
31 mins – A Lopez
65 mins – Parejita
89 mins – Scocco (for asking for a corner, when it clearly was a corner)

CROWD:-
50,000

Eleswhere in Mexico:-
The battle between the group 1 leaders finished in an easy win 4-0 for Jaguares over Atlas. Cruz Azul nightmare continues with America beating them 2-1, they now have just 1 point from the last 5 games, and Mizrahi’s position is looking very insecure.
Descenco:- Queretaro beat Nexaca away, Tecos and Veracruz lose, moving into our sightsd nicely. Santos and San Luis play out a nil all draw. Group 3:- America go clear second, Toluca go further ahead, with a 7-0 demolition of Tigres, also group 3:- early in the second half, they scored 5 goals in 8 minutes, el Barullo Marioni got 4, to give him top goalscorer position again with 10 goals.

Descenso, bottom 5:-
1.2791 San Luis 55 from 43
1.2468 Tecos 96 from 77
1.2208 Veracruz 94 from 77
1.1688 Pumas 90 from 77
1.1429 Santos 88 from 77

Group 3:-
1st Toluca 20 pts +15
2nd America 17 pts +5
3rd Pumas 15 pts +4
4th Morelia 10 pts -4
5th Tigres 9 pts -10
6th Santos 4 pts -7

--------------------------------------------------------------

With 9 games played and 8 left, I thought you might be interested in the average ratings so far, figs in bold are GOALS and MOM’s, in brackets (starts, sub off, sub on)

7.22 Ignacio Scocco 2 - 2 (7/4/2)
7.14 Leandro Augusto 1 - 2 (7/1/0)
7.11 Dario Veron (9/0/0)
7.00 Jose Luis “Parejita” Lopez 3 - 1 (9/2/0)
7.00 Ariel Gonzalez 1 - 1 (6/4/0)
7.00 Hector Moreno 0- 1 (5/2/2)
7.00 Fernando Espinoza (2/0/1)
7.00 Rogelio Rodríguez (0/0/1)
6.67 Antonio Sancho 0 - 1 (6/1/0)
6.67 Fernando Morales 1 - 0 (1/1/2)
6.67 Sergio Bernal (9/0/0)
6.50 Oscar Alanis (0/0/2)
6.33 Israel Castro 0 - 1 (9/0/0)
6.33 Efrain Velarde (9/0/0)
6.33 Marco Antonio “Pikolin” Palacios (9/0/0)
6.25 Alex Diego (2/1/2)
6.20 Ariel “El Chupa” Lopez 1 - 0 (3/3/2)
6.13 Reinaldo Da Silva 1 - 0 (4/4/4)
6.00 David Toledo (1/1/1)
5.43 Ismael Iñiguez (1/1/6)

Next Up:-
Next Sunday v Necaxa CU 12pm. A welcome back for Gerry Galindo and Beltran. They have had an indifferent season, rooted to the bottom of group 1, with 9 points from 9 games. They have also just become the first team to lose at home to Queretaro, but they are the team that started Cruz Azul’s woes, beating them 2-1 in the Estadio Azul, jornada 5. So, like Monterrey, I feel we can only drop points here, a win is an expectation, although Kleber clearly has a wealth of talent and can create a goal from nowhere.

Game 7: Cruz Azul away

Cruz Azul v PUMAS
10th September 2006
Estadio Azul

Video Highlights

Just as there are 8 species of bears extant, Cruz Azul stuck 8 passed us last season. Both of us had two crucial South Americans returning from injury, Cesar “Chelito” Delgado for them, probably the best player in the Mexican league, and Leandro Augusto, the “lung” of the Pumas side.

History was not on our side:- we had not won in the Estadio Azul for 9 years, Chelito had scored 5 in 4 against us, and we had never beaten them with him playing. We were coming off a bad loss v Pachuca, and they had had a great start to the season, only to lose their last two games, they haven’t had a longer losing streak in donkey’s years.

My feeling was that if Tuca Ferretti went for 5-3-2 it could be a low scoring draw, but 4-4-2 would give us a high scoring loss:- razor sharp up front, they do have some defensive problems.

Some 30,000 turned up (6,000 less than capacity, although the away end was full to bursting) to see an interesting and close battle. We did indeed start with 5-3-2, and immediately we could see how much we missed the boy Leandro, we started brightest, but as the half wore on they came more and more into it. Once again we had managed to get our concentration levels high, and even losing the solid captain Sancho on 12 mins did not really interrupt our flow, he was replaced by Fernando Espinoza. We looked pretty solid at the back, the only worry being the acres of space they had consistently down the left, and of course a few flashes from Delgado, who is a real handful. We also did not really have anything down our left, and Reinaldo looked slow today, and did not really do much. The talk on the terraces was for him to come off at half time, some going for El Chupa Lopez, others (including me) for Gonzalez.

In fact the only change at half time was Parejita’s boots:- he went in wearing white ones, and came out with his bright red ones. He had had a couple of mis-controls in the first half, but to be fair to him, he has been playing so well recently we have become very unforgiving of the slightest mistake. One of the most exciting features of this game, for me, was we could really see him beginning to link very well with Scocco. Although defensively sound, we were always penetrating as well. Occasionally there was, however, a criminal lack of movement, one time causing Leandro to stop an attack, and simply hold the ball up (“pinche Brasiliano”) and hold is hands up in frustration.

Sorry, Kenny, but the ref seemed to have it in for us today, really giving them everything, and us very little, Scocco got booked for diving when he was clearly brought down, a variety of bad offsides decisions (especially against Parejita), although he did not shirk from a big decision against them when he had to.

So early in the second half we were building nicely, and you really felt a goal was coming, although it really could have been at either end, but our strongest period of the game was coming. On 55 mins Parejta took a corner, Moreno got up very well to head the ball down goal-wise, Scocco pounced to slot home:- 1-0. Or so we thought, the linesman had flagged “Coco” offside, despite Israel Lopez, out wide, playing him about 2 metres onside. A truly awful decision, which left us sure he had in for us. However, a few minutes later, Huiqui, already on a yellow, came in with a nasty elbow on Parejita he left him no choice but to show him a second yellow. We really believed we could win now, but had to score. It was all us now, they were clearly rattled, when, 10 minutes after the sending off, Scocco rose well, got ahead of the defender and headed an excellent Espinoza cross home.

We really did control the game now, although they kept pushing. We had a couple of chances to finish it off, but I was very impressed with the display of defending a one-nil lead we saw. With five minutes left we simply held the ball, passing it all over the park, simple passes, making space for one another, making their ten men run for nothing. All good stuff…..EXCEPT…. well, it was so good we interrupted “Como No Te Voy A Querer” to cheer every pass. As soon as we started this, that most familiar of phrases came into play:- “unnecessary error by Palacios”. He made a gift of a ball to Chelito, who made space, shot well, beat Bernal (hearts in mouth time), but it came ricocheting back off the post.. phew! Sideshow is going to be the death of me, I know it, but the post is part of the goalkeepers armoury, and Bernal had had a decent game.

Once again I felt overall we were maybe not positive enough, a lot sideways and backwards passing, but you could say it was intelligent patience, but we have to keep on top of that. But sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards, so I prefer to see it as patient building.

So an historic moment, the massed ranks of travelling support in great voice, and at full time, as I scanned across the colourful stadium at sunset, I spied none other than Medium-Sized Mick dancing a jig of joy under the floodlights…… Lovely stuff.

This weeks ratings a joint effort from me, and the boy Mason:-
Bernal – 7 – nervous game, one good save from Delgado

Castro – 7 – often playing too forward, and a bit inside, but good defensively and good going forward.
Palacios – 6 – want to give him more, but that last minute error, but did have much better game.
Veron – 8 – sound
Moreno – 7- solid (subbed 59)
Velarde – 8 – good game, Chelito switched sides because of him.

Sancho – 5 – too little time (subbed 12 injured).
Leandro – 8 – MOM - ooo, we missed you, faded a bit first half. Overall very good, providing the link, always positive, even in defence.
Pareja – 8 – got knocked about a bit second half, but looked keen, skilful and troublesome, worked hard again.

Scocco – 8 – runs, jinks, two goals took them both well.
Reinaldo – 5 – needs to have more to fit into this system, looked slow today, must be running out of opportunities. Static. (subbed off 70 mins)

SUBS
Espinoza – 8– 12 mins – excellent game, impressive.
Iñiguez – 5 – 59 mins – oh why oh why?
Alanis – 7 – 70 mins - willing, but a lot to learn. It is interesting to see Tuca trusting his Cantera, rather than his big signings, the Ariels, Lopez and Gonzalez.

DT
Tuca Ferretti – 8 - , formation correct for this game, and has obviously worked hard on getting his players to understand it. Maybe Reinaldo has had his chance, surprised to see him still on at beginning of second half. Made good changes at the right time to keep the pressure on them, went for the throat when Huiquis sent off.

GOAL:-
68 mins – Strong header from Scocco, enjoying an excellent cross from Fernando Espinoza

CARDS:-
Cruz Azul:-
J Huiqui 18 mins and 58 mins
G Torrado 49 mins (no need for him to stand over and shout at Pareja after he had been kicked again)
I Lopez 80 mins
PUMAS
Pareja 49 mins
Scocco 61 mins
Velarde 71 mins.

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
Omar Bravo well and truly back in the fold as he hits two in Chivas 4-0 destruction of Beltran’s and Galindo’s Necaxa. Tecos’ horrible season continues as Pachuca really get into gear, doing them 5-2. The teams we are up against for relegation, well Veracruz got another win 2-1 v Tigres. This is tough, because Veracruz are quite poor and disorganised, they really should be pushing harder for relegation. San Luis got a point in the tricky match at Jaguares (1-1), and Queretaro are showing more and more, as they took the lead away v Monterrey, fell behind, but came back to draw 2-2. Santos lost at home to America, which is good news in the descenso, but bad news in group 3. Toluca continue to be overall leaders, and far away in group 3, beating Morelia (also group 3) 2-1.

Descenso, bottom 5:-
1.2533 Veracruz 94 from 75
1.2439 San Luis 51 from 41
1.1600 Santos 87 from 75
1.1467 PUMAS 86 from 75
1.1429 Queretaro 8 from 7

Also, in the morning in CU, the “clasico” of Mexican American Football took place, and Pumas de UNAM scored with 11 seconds on the clock, to beat the “Aguilas Blancas” of Politécnico 7-9, so a great double victory day for the University.

NEXT UP:-
Wedensday night (13th Sept) at CU, v Monterrey, another must-win (I am getting bored of saying that, can’t we just leave it that they are all “must-wins“ this season?)

Game 6: Pachuca home

PUMAS v Pachuca
4th September 2006
CU

Video Highlights

This was the week in which Pumas season fell apart. A controlled and disciplined performance v Toluca, disappointing away at Santos, and woeful at home to Pachuca; make no mistake about it this was the worst Pumas showing for some time… I hope Frank took his booing boots, they deserved it. So we pick up only 2 points in three games this week, meanwhile all around us pick up plenty.

PUMAS v Pachuca
Last seasons champions have had a terrible start, getting their first point of the season on Wednesday v struggling Queretaro at home. Leandro was still out, no idea when he will be back, but he was, in a way, man of this match, his absence a brooding presence.

Tuca realised his mistake at Santos, and correctly started with 4-4-2, Morales getting a start on the left, Toledo in for Leandro, and Scocco and Gonzalez starting up front.

This game can be summed up in one word: - errors. Pachuca, to me, looked pretty poor, and we looked worse. Very many very silly errors throughout the game. All their goals came from our errors, when we had the ball without pressure. After 15 minutes Veron inexplicably tripped over the ball (not the only Pumas player to do this today), under no pressure, giving the ball away just in front of the goal, Pikolin charged across but they still got a shot in. Just when it looked like we were going to make it to half time, for an old fashioned bollocking, after some real let-offs, Pikolin, on the edge of the box, in a regulation situation, attempted to fancily take the ball past a lone striker, messed it up royally, they pounced, 1-0 down at half time. The 40,000 crowd rightly booed them off.

One change at the break, Diego on for the anonymous Toledo, it made little difference. Passing going astray, lack of ideas, very poor crossing, nothing went well today. There second goal was an error of the referee’s, as Mosquera received the ball in an offside position, controlled it with his arm, stuck it passed Bernal. To be fair, we deserved to be two down (at least), and seemed determined to lose, but Pachuca needed help from us and the ref to kill us off.

The second changes brought on Reinaldo and Iñiguez for the ineffectual Scocco and Morales, who had looked lively, but whose crossing was pitiful all day long. This change seems to galvanise the team for a period, and they finally looked interested. A series of errors, bad passes, worse crosses, useless clearances and the ball finally dropped to Parejita, who pushed it past a defender with his first touch, and then rocketed it home. We now looked favourites to at least get a draw. Bernal had to pull of a triple save, but his defence was all over the place all day, and when Cacho got through to dink it over the out-rushing stopper, it was all over…. 3-1 loss and richly deserved.

PUMAS
Bernal – 7 – couldn’t really be faulted for the goals, and pulled off some good saves

Velarde – 5 – occasionally out of position
Veron – 5 – not what we are used to, gave away some silly balls.
Pikolin – 5 – actually had a better game than Veron, but his mistake gifted them the first goal
Castro – 5 – not effective going forward, or at the back:-
The defence as a whole was all over the place today – not just the back four, but throughout the team.

Morales – 6 – disappointed with his performance, crossing shocking, but Record gave him man of the match for pumas but I don’t agree (subbed off 65 mins)
Sancho – 6 – solidish, but he needs to lead from the front more, and be more positive throughout the entire game, not just the last 15
Toledo – 4 – did he play? (subbed halftime)
Parejita – 7 – MOM – the only Pumas player showing his huevos today, all over the park, the goal was well taken, and he was leading the brief charge we had.

Gonzalez – 7 – not much support, not many chances, but ran all day, had a few good moves
Scocco – 5 – again lack of support, but looked uninterested, maybe had the ball once. He gave the ball away for the second goal, by waiting for it, just stolen off him nice and easy. (subbed off 65 mins)

SUBS
Diego - (half time) – 6 – looked more positive today
Iñiguez – (65 mins) – 6 – usual Iñiguez display
Reinaldo – (65 mins) – 6 – nothing really

DT
Tuca Ferretti
4-4-2 was right, changes unconvincing, and didn’t seem to be able to galvanise the team into action when desperately needed. He says he doesn’t like to explain what went wrong, as it sounds like excuses, “it’s time to shut up, and take the criticism that this week will bring.” He hopes that Leandro will be fit for the tricky Cruz Azul away fixture. So do I….

GOALS
0-1 – 42 mins – Alverez enjoyed a gift from Pikolin, and stuck passed Bernal to his right.
0-2 – 54 mins – Alex Diego attempted pass to Scocco went astray (both payers to blame), and then Mosquera controlled with his arm, before finishing it.
1-2 – 67 mins – Parejita took control on the right, after some pinball around the box, fired it lethally into the onion bag.
1-3 – 77 mins – Parejita lost the ball, Cacho went past Pikolin like he wasn’t there, and chipped it nicely over Bernal

CARDS
7 mins – Toledo – don’t know why
13 mins – Sancho – tackle from behind, but harsh card.

Elswhere in Mexico:-
The Mexican league has got to be the most unpredictable in the world. Newly promoted and struggling Queretaro beat Cruz Azul, the best team in the league 2-1. Chelito Delgado was in London with the Argentinean squad, and this shows how much influence a player of his calibre has here. San Luis, also struggling, beat Veracruz 4-0, Jaguares lost to Morelia, the only really good news for us was Santos losing. On thing is certain in the Mexican league, however, and that is biased referring in the Azteca. After Marioni scored a beauty inside 5 mins (man, does he love to score at the Azteca), Toluca seemed to be cruising, soaking up pressure as they can. Twenty minutes into the 2nd half, Cuauhtemoc Blanco ran into the box, fell over and went down clearly expecting the penalty, which the ref duly gave… one of the tragedies for America is that they are currently so poor that they really don’t do very much, despite this help. Finished America 1 Toluca 1.

All these results spell complete disaster for us, as we are rooted now to the bottom of the descenso table. Tricky says it is a marathon, not a sprint, but if we keep playing like this we are going down…

Bottom 5 in descenso:-
1.2500 – San Luis – 50 from 40
1.2297 – Veracruz – 91 from 74
1.1757 – Santos – 87 from 74
1.1667 – Queretaro – 7 from 6
1.1216 – PUMAS – 83 from 74

Next Up:-
Saturday 9th September 5pm Cruz Azul at the Estadio Azul, hope I can get tickets…

Game 5: Santos away

Santos V PUMAS
Estadio Corona
31st August 2006

Video Highlights

I could not see this match, as Sky stole it, as they stole the World Cup, but I have pieced this together from Tricky, and John Kelly.

Santos v PUMAS:-
Leandro and El Chupa Lopez both out injured. A reasonable game, with a fair result. “Pony” Ruiz displayed good ball control throughout, and also showed that he is still clearly Santos’ best player. John said that Morales goal was “great great”, but Tricky said it was a regulation free header from a free kick. As John is the founder of, and the brains behind this blog, and therefore my boss, I am going with him. It was felt overall that Tuca Ferretti made an error in starting this game with 5-3-2. Sideshow Bob scored with his bonce from a Castro free kick, a very high quality goal, but disallowed for a non-foul by Veron. Sideshow was booked for looking disappointed.

After they scored early (12 mins), the 5-3-2 was clearly shown to be wrong, but Tuca was honest enough to change it. We put on pressure, whilst all their players (esp the keeper) went down for long periods with pretend injuries. Finally Morales scored with his head on 83 mins, after which we lost it a bit, but gave us a frantic and exciting last 7 mins + 5 added on.

Tricky Dicky’s Marks Out Of Ten:-
Bernal – 7 – not much to do

Castro – 8 – MOM two fine free kicks
Veron – 7 – was done for the goal
Pikolin – 8 – his best game this season
Velarde – 6 – at fault for the goal and not good enough going forward in a 5-3-2
Moreno – 7 – solid (subbed off 24 mins, tactical to change to 4-4-2)

Diego – 6 – failed to impose himself (subbed off half-time)
Sancho – 6 – likewise
Parejita – 7 – quiet, but still a threat

Reinaldo – 6 – anonymous (subbed off 73 mins)
Scocco – 7 – not much support

SUBS:-
Morales (24 mins) – 7 – more of him going forward, finally
Toledo (half-time) – 8 – looked sharp
Gonzalez (73 mins) – 7 – team has more balance with him.

DT
“Tuca” Ferretti – 7 – Chose wrong team [formation I would say] but was brave enough to change it [early]. Why oh why is Phil Neville still playing for England? [that last bit may have been referring to something else….]

Goals:-
12 mins - Rodrigo "Pony" Ruiz hit a Oribe Peralta pass first time, passed Bernal
83 mins - Israel Castro took a free kick from the right, Fernando Morales found space, and with plenty of time, header a perfect header into the corner

Cards:-
31 mins - Antonio Sancho
48 mins - Marco Palacios

Elswhere in Mexico:-
America lost away at bogey team Jaguares, Queretaro picked up another point, drawing away at Champions Pachuca. That this was Pachuca’s first points of the season shows how they are struggling, and anything less than 3 points Sunday will be bad news for us, especially as San Luis won again:-

Bottom 5 Descenso:-
1.2466 Veracruz 91 from 73
1.2051 San Luis 47 from 39
1.1918 Santos 87 from 73
1.1370 PUMAS 83 from 73
0.8000 Queretaro 4 from 5

But better news in Group 3:-
1st Toluca 13 +1
2nd PUMAS 8 +1
3rd America 7 +1
4th Tigres 7 -2
5th Monarcas 4 -3
6th Santos 3 -3

Next Up:-
Pachuca at CU Sunday 2nd Sept, 12.00.
This is a must win, I think. They have started very badly, and we have only 2 points from last 2 games, a win here, for points and confidence is essential.