Game 16: San Luis Away

San Luis v Pumas
Estadio Alfonso Lastras
4th November 2006

Video Highlights

A great save, an awful miss and a wonderful poach gave Pumas their first ever victory v San Luis here, and planted one foot firmly in the Liguilla. Over night, we even shared the super-lider on 26 points, with Toluca, Cruz Azul, Atlas and America. It could be said that we had some luck, and their strikers should have finished us off. However we displayed Tuca’s favourite traits of patience, control and concentration, and deserved this win.

Tuca opted to start 4-4-2, but with a couple of surprises, Espinosa kept at right back, Castro as defensive midfielder and Sancho ahead of him, pushing Leandro further left. Partnering Gonzalez up front, was Chupa Lopez, much to my disgust. Both the Ariels received warm welcomes, Gonzalez as a San Luis old boy (16 goals in 36 games), and Chupa had worked under their manager Raul Arias at Necaxa.

Arias also changed his usual 5-3-2 for 4-4-2, and the first half was not of the highest interest. We really managed to stop them, and their strikers didn’t really see the ball at all. The first chance was a tricky one for Gonzalez after more than half and hour. A strong encounter, with a midfield battle, but not lots to tell.

No changes at half time, and San Luis came out brightly, and a twenty minute period of real danger for us started, which we weathered in a variety of ways. First at 52 minutes Pereira met a cross in the heart if the area, and headed it very well, very strongly. “RoRo” Rodriguez, of whom I have had some harsh words (esp v America), leapt to his right at full length and got enough hand on it to send it up to the cross bar. This was a truly magnificent save, and RoRo knew it, grinning wildly at the bench, and pointing at himself. But why not, he had kept us in it; single-handedly.

However, just two minutes later Castro failed to stop a diagonal ball into the box, where Navia met it and scored… only to be correctly ruled offside. Credit to Pikolin for tracking him, yet forcing him into an off-side position. Just one minute later, Pereira had been allowed space deep in the box, and fired a low cross through the defense to a waiting, onside, and free Navia, with an open goal a metre in front of him. He failed to even make contact, and the faulty foot shuffle on the slow-mo is well worth a laugh. Another good chance went begging for them on 60 minutes, Guerrero should have at least made RoRo make a save.

Tuca then did the obvious and brought Scocco on for the once more static Chupa. Immediately you could see his touch and class, and it makes you wonder how Tuca can even think of not playing him from the start. The game became more even, although old Puma hero Ailton Da Silva came on and hit a cracker from long range, forcing RoRo into another good save.

On 74 minutes Tuca made a rather odd change, bringing a subdued (but determined) Parejita off for Moreno. This defensive move looked as if Tuca was going to go for a nil all, after all. However, the very first thing Moreno did was to meet a corner kick very strongly with his head, down and goalwise, it got a deflection off a defender, and as the keeper went to block it, Scocco popped up with the delicatist of touches to see the ball home.

Whilst Scocco is a very creative player, and it would be tempting to play him as an advanced midfielder, he has clearly shown time and again he also possesses the poaching instincts of a striker. We have seen him many times lose his man in the box at corners, and the instinct to pop up at the right place is in his blood. Witness how he peeled off his marker to score v Veracruz. Another poach off a knock down from a corner was wrongly adjudged off-side v Cruz Azul. He came very close in similar circumstances v Toluca. For me he has the makings of the complete forward, he also has great vision, an ability for the defence splitting pass, a lovely long shot, and a lethal finish. We have to play him for a full 90 minutes every game.

This goal settled us and we never really looked in a lot of trouble afterwards. In fact, the still out of shape, out of touch, and out of confidence Reinaldo had a couple of chances to finish it. He didn’t.

All in all, a great win, and controlled performance, rode the storm well, and took all points with a sneaky goal (tm Tricky)

Ratings:-
Rodriguez – 9 – a couple of good saves, one great one, assured on crosses, in control of his defence, and some brave keeping to boot. Missed out on MOM by a whisker.

Espinosa – 7 – decent, solid
Pikolin – 9 – another great performance, good in the air, distribution good, didn’t get beaten, and a remarkable assault on the ball rolling into touch scores him highly.
Veron – 7 – solid and decent, but today outshone by his partner, Sideshow Bob
Velarde – 8 – he plays like a player with 10 years experience, not in his first full season.

Sancho – 8 – decent game in the centre of the park. Would rather see him in contención, with Leandro in this role.
Castro - 7 - has really grown in this role this season, because of Sancho's injury and suspension, although I do not understand playing him here when Sancho is available
Leandro – 7 – is wasted on the left, so stayed more inside, creating an odd shape. Tuca has to understand the gem that Leandro is, and use him correctly. He is too blinkered in his love for Sancho.
Parejita – 7 – another slightly subdued game for him, but once again showed great ganas, great heart, and kept high concentration levels to the end. (subbed off 74 mins)

Lopez – 6 – after a good game v America, in which we saw him move for the first time, he came back and didn’t really do much. Too static again, too willing to stand with his hands on his hips pointing. (subbed 63 mins)
Gonzalez – 8 – another good hustling performance. As I said last week, I really think defences hate playing against him. Always moving, always chasing, had a couple of decent attempts at half chances too. (subbed 85 mins)

Subs:-
Scocco – 10 – MOM – 63 mins - great touch, great movement, a class act. A wonderful poached goal of his turned out to be the difference and got us the points.
Moreno – 7 – 74 mins - good solid performance, and a strong head to put the defence in trouble, allowing Scocco to pop up.
Reinaldo – 5 – 85 mins – actually in amongst it for the 5 mins he was on, strong work to put himself in the clear with a one on one, but looked slow of foot, and slow of head, and stuck it way over the bar. Also had a good heading chance which he fluffed.

DT
Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti – 6 – good to switch to 4-4-2, but got the personnel wrong. Should have had Castro at right-back, Sancho defensive midfielder, Leandro running things in front of him, Pareja out right and Morales out left. Also, he must be on some very strong drugs to prefer Chupa Lopez to Scocco, that is unforgivable, I think. The Moreno substitution looked odd, almost admitting defeat, but we scored straight away, so it looks inspired.

I think he is so fond of Sancho he is miss-using Leandro, and we are losing out because of it. Leandro should be the midfield general, with Sancho behind him, however, it should free him up to create down the middle, but wastes too much time deep left. Also he must understand that the correct partnership up front is Gonzalez and Scocco. And he must give them plenty of playing time together. If not, I fear a team that respects Scocco’s talents more may come knocking sooner rather than later-

Cards:-
San Luis
26 mins – Navia
75 mins – Tahulan

Pumas
40 mins – Castro – very harsh, not a booking
41 mins – Chupa
50 mins – Espinosa.

Goal:-
75 mins – Following a corner kick that San Luis defence could not deal with, Ignacio Scocco appeared, and pushed the ball over the line, very controlled to avoid a foul on the keeper.

Crowd:-
32,000 – they always get a great support down there, even in the Primera A they were selling out, which is extremely rare in Mexico.

Pumas Morelos:-
Just like the senior team, a good 1-0 away win v Tigres, with a goal from David Toledo. Odin Patiño is skipper of this team, and playing today were also Jehu Chiapas, Ben Mosco, Jaramillo, Franco, Alcantara, Orlando Pineda, Gaston Caprari (arg), Pedro Solis, Pablo Barrera and Israel Moreno, Pablo Bonells and Daniel Alanis came on as subs. Definetely time Tuca gave Solis a run out in the senior squad. They are now 5th in Group 2 with, I think, a good chance to qualify for the liguilla. Heres a video from a few weeks back, losing 3-4 at home. Gaston wears 44, Solis (40) sets up his goal, and Barrera (who came on v Tecos and Monarcas) scores a nice goal wearing 18.

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
Once again the most highly paid strike force in Mexico fail, as America draw 0-0 “away” at Atlante, in the Azteca. This means we have the same points and GD as them. They have only scored 4 away from home, we now have 5!. In an exciting game Veracruz come back from behind to beat Chivas 3-2. Chivas seem certain that Bofo, Bravo and Medina will all go to Europe soon, and are wooing Kikin. Jaguares draw with Monterrey 1 each, making their classification a little complicated. Monarcas put on a little pressure in Group 3, by beating Tecos 2-1, remember they still have a chance of 6 points, and will play the last 50 minutes v Necaxa on Wednesday night. Atlas beat Necaxa 2-1, in a bright and open game, notable mainly for the appalling refereeing. Our last match is v Tigres, they have struggled this season, and the directors have promised a big clear out at Christmas. Against Queretaro both Walter Gaitan and Sebastian “Chamagol” Gonzalez missed several sitters, but still won 3-2, this pulled them away from us in the relegation zone. The top of the table clash was an interesting match that finished honours even, Toluca 1 Cruz Azul 1, with neither of those in the hunt for top goalscorer adding to their tally, Marioni on 11 and Sabah on 9 hoping to overtake him and become the first Mexican to win this since Jared Borgetti at Santos in 2001. Pachuca and Santos played out a 1 all draw, which leaves Santos 6 points behind us in the relegation zone. There is talk of Borgetti going back at Christmas to help them, but I feel this is a pipe-dream.

We are now 5th in the general table, one point off the leaders, so thats something for the press here, who have knocked Pumas all season, to think about. We are also on our own as the best defence, with only 11 conceded. OK, we have not scored many, but as Cloughie used to say:- "Football is like life; you build from the back" (although this does not explain Mark Crossley). I really think we should be able to get this award at least, by keeping a clean sheet v Tigres.

Group`3:-
Toluca pld 16 27pts +12
America pld 16 26pts +5 (scored 19)
PUMAS pld 16 26pts +5 (scored 16)
Monarcas pld 15 20pts -3
Tigres pld 16 14pts -18
Santos pld 16 11pts -11

Descenso bottom 6:-
1.2600 San Luis 63 from 50
1.2500 Queretaro 20 from 16
1.2381 Tigres 104 from 84
1.2262 Tecos 103 from 84
1.2024 Pumas 101 from 84
1.1310 Santos 95 from 84

Next Up:-
At home 12th November 12.00 CU, v Tigres. Very important. I am pretty sure that a draw will see us in the liguilla. However, if we win, it means we will start the Clausura 2007 with the same points on the descenso. If we keep our concentration levels up, we should be able to; they have the joint fewest goals scored this season with 14, and have conceded 32, 2nd most, behind Tecos.