Game 11: Queretaro away

Queretaro v Pumas
La Corregidora
30th September 2006

Video Highlights

An important bottom of the table clash this one, and unfortunately I cannot remember too much about it.

Antonio Sancho was still not back, so Castro played in front of the central defenders again, he had a better game, but Leandro’s lack of confidence showed again.

Seemed to be something like 4-3-3 to start with, but to be honest it was completely shapeless. I was bitterly, viciously disappointed first 20 mins or so, which led me to drink too much, and lose my way… just as Pumas were gaining. Their goal, Villalobos in acres of space on left, came on 18 mins, but we played better after it, and still better in the second half.

Tuca’s substitutions showed some courage, and pushed forward when we needed it. I thought that Chupa Lopez was awful, really poor. Ariel Gonzalez has looked a bit confused with his back to goal of late, but scored a beauty today. A dinked-in ball from Castro was met by Gonzelez charging across the goal, controlled it with his left, spun and rocketed into the net, on the volley. That’s how I saw it, but Tricky says it was a mis-control, followed by a toe-poke.

And today’s ratings are also from The Boy Mason (although I down-graded Lopez a point from Trick's original 5):-

Bernal – 7 - did nothing much wrong, not at fault for the goal

Velarde – 8 - Growing in stature
Moreno – 7 - solid game - again (subbed off half time)
Veron - 8 - a rock MOM
Palacios – 6 - not a bad game, but again slightly at fault for the goal - failed to pressure the goalscorer as he was shooting, in fact if anything backed off.

Pajejita – 7 - not up to his usual high standards [of late] but still a threat, particularly after Morales came on
Castro – 7 - Nothing desperately wrong but Leandro doesn’t trust him
Leandro – 7 - Likewise ok but came too deep

Scocco – 8 - never understand why he is always subbed off, always looked dangerous (subbed off 76 mins)
Lopez – 4 - quite frankly awful (subbed off 69 mins)
Gonzalez – 7 - seems to be getting better certainly mas huevos

SUBS
Espinoza – half time - 6 - Had little impact
Alanis – 69 mins - 6 - Poor first touch, but worked hard
Morales – 76 mins - 7 - Good coming on as a sub frees up other players

DT
Tuca – 7 - Not entirely convinced with Castro as contencion, but had he courage to push forward when we were down.

Cards:-
Najera - 8 mins
Villalobos – 72 mins
None for us, again. In Fact Marco Antonio Rodriguez seemed content to let the game flow, for once. (you may remember him from England v Paraguay fame)

Goals:-
1-0 – 18 mins – Emilio Mora passes to Alejandro Villalobos, who slots it past Bernal
1-1 – 63 mins – Ariel Gonzalez receives the ball from Israel Castro in the box, spins on a six-pence (quite a large six-pence) and toe-pokes a rocket into the net. Or is that rockets a toe-poke into the net?

Crowd:-
40,000 (not sure how accurate this can be, its suppose to be a 40,000 capacity, and it was not completely full, also last weeks match was described, in three different sources as being:- 40K, 35K and 18K!)

So a great compact stadium, the noise of the Goya coming off the roof was awesome, a good day out and 5 game unbeaten run, but three consecutive draws, we need to start winning again:-

GROUP 3:-
1st Toluca 21 pts +13
2nd America 18 pts +3
3rd PUMAS 17pts +4
4th Monarcas 11pts -6
5th Tigres 10pts -15
6th Santos 6pts -7

DESCENSO: - Bottom 5
1.2658 Veracruz 100 from 79
1.2532 Tecos 99 from 79
1.1818 Queretaro 13 from 11
1.1646 PUMAS 92 from 79
1.1392 Santos 90 from 79

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
Cruz Azul’s misery continues, losing 1-0 at home to San Luis, that is their 4th consecutive home loss, and have just 2 points from the last 7… I think this is the worst run in their history. Pachuca really back in their stride now, doing Tigres 5-0 at home. In the “Clasico”, a home win, Chivas 2, America 0, left some America fans in tears: - pathetic. And the “super-lideres” (i.e. top of the overall table) Toluca got a shock; they had only “received” (conceded) 4 goals all season, but went down at home 3-2 to Veracruz.

Next Up:-
Two home games coming up, the first being Sunday 8th October 12 noon CU v Atlante. Nothing to concern us about them, and if Sancho is back, 5-3-2 with Scocco and Gonzalez. We really should, and must, win this one.
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New Strikers so far:-
Something Tricky said about Scocco always being subbed off made me want to look at how our four new strikers have faired after 11 matches:-

Ariel "El Chupa" Lopez shirt number 8. 32 years old. Played 323 minutes during the 7 games he has been involved in (46 mins per game). He has started 4, and been subbed off in all 4, and subbed on in 3 others. He has scored 1 goal (every 323 mins), and not been man of the match. My rating: - 5.71

Reinaldo Jose Da Silva shirt number 9. 26 years old. Played 450 minutes during the 9 games he has been involved in (50 mins per game). He has started 4, and been subbed off in all 4, and subbed on in 5 others. He has scored 1 goal (every 450 mins), and not been man of the match. My rating: - 6.11

Ignacio Scocco shirt number 10. 21 years old. Played 759 minutes during the 11 games he has been involved in (69 mins per game). He has started 9, and been subbed off in 5, and subbed on in 2 others (4 complete games). He has scored 3 goals (every 253 mins), and been man of the match twice. My rating: - 7.45

Ariel "El Paisano" Gonzalez shirt number 21. 31 years old. Played 580 minutes during the 9 games he has been involved in (64 mins per game). He has started 8, been subbed off in 5, and subbed on in 1 game, completing 4 games. He has scored 2 goals (every 290 mins), and been man of the match once. My rating: - 6.88
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VIDEOS:-
The video link we have seems to have dried up, but go to http://youtube.com and search for "Colima24 pumas", and you will find most of the games to view - just seen it, and forgot about Chupa's great chip, which brought a great save, maybe 4 was mean!