Game 2: Veracruz away

Veracruz v Pumas
27th January 2007
Estadio Luis Pirata Fuente

Video:- JUST VERACRUZ GOALS

A frustrating and largely inexplicable loss. A glaring error by Bernal, for which most are more willing to forgive than I am. I also felt that Tuca made some errors in this game.

We knew that Ailton had only 80% chance of a start, and Gonzalez and Scocco definitely out, so we felt sure of seeing Palencia and Chupa Lopez up front. I did manage to travel to Veracruz, arriving in time to get to the match. We, however, did not get to the ground until only 15 mins before kick off, to be confronted by a large queue. I will not dwell on the reasons for this tardiness, but suffice to say the bitter recriminations will last for some time.

So getting in 15 mins or so late we had the surprise of seeing Pedro Solis starting, alongside Paco Palencia. Solis has a similar body shape as Scocco, but clearly looked like a man stepping up a level, a little out of his depth. Also he is slower than I had hoped.

In that opening period I am told Veracruz could have scored four, most notably Victorino hitting the underside of the bar. I must say he looks considerably sharper than when he spent six months clumping around with us, although he did fade as the match wore on.

Having ridden this storm an out of sorts Parejita put in a beauty of a cross, the sort you know will be a goal as it leaves his foot, and sure enough it was met by a much improved Palencia who finished well. And really, that should have been that, we were quite content going into the break, and as the second half started we gradually took more control of the game. Bizarrely this is when we conceded. Lucas Ayala hit the ball from outside the box, reputedly at over 100 kms per hour. It was, however, at a comfortable place and height, Bernal shaped to catch, I think, and changed his mind late, and fatally, as the ball ricocheted of him into the net.

From here on in really we lacked ideas, and no one seemed to want to get the ball under control. Ailton had come on for Solis just before the goal, and with him out left, and Paco so deep at times we seemed to have no centre forwards at all. The fatalist in me (14 hours on a bus for this game, didn't even see the sea) accepted their winning goal as inevitable, a decent cross, finished well enough, but again I think Bernal could have made a better effort at this one.

We did have some chances late on, but a couple of miscontrols here and there (notably Palencia and Ailton – mis- chesting right in front of goal) put pay to any hopes of salvaging anything. I don’t think they deserved to win this game, but ultimately, neither did we.

Ratings (in consultation with Richard)
Bernal – 5 – as often happens to keepers after an international call up, he made a high-profile gaff. Not sure he was on top of controlling his defence either today.

Castro – 6 – tidy enough, but also seemed to suffer international dip, not his usual class. (subbed off 51 mins)
Pikolin – 7– a few bad clearances, just occasionally looked a tiny bit lost, but worked hard
Veron – 7 – almost as commanding as always. But not quite.
Velarde – 6 – still not back to his top form, but better than last week.

Chiapas – 5 – anonymous (subbed off 56 mins)
Sancho – 7 – we mostly controlled the middle here, and he added to it
Leandro – 7 – worked hard, but I felt overall his passing not as crisp as usual, and not as assured on the ball either.
Parejita – 7 – very subdued, would have been a 6, but for the wonderful cross.

Solis – 5 – stepping up to top flight is always tough, especially at nearly 26, and overall found wanting. Not entirely sure if experience at this level will really take him much further. I hope it does. (subbed off 63 mins)
Palencia – 7 – MOM – worked hard, and scored a nice goal, sometimes, especially late on, he was too deep. Also said that he wasn’t happy about scoring, because we lost – good team man

Subs
Espinosa - 6 - (51 mins) decent job
Moreno - 7 - (56 mins) did well when he came on.
Ailton – 6 – (63 mins) good to see him back, a couple of runs, I think he needed to be getting in amongst it more in the box today, not his normal game I know, but that was the situation we were in

DT
Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti – 5 – I really think starting with Solis was a glaring mistake. He would have been much better coming on for 15-20 mins. Also, by leaving Chupa off the bench, even, he has infuriated a proud man, who had stated he was happy to be cover for Scocco – a big admission for him. So now, with our front line strikers injured Tuca has lost the good will of a very important player. Here’s a first on this blog:- Tuca should have started with Ariel “Chupa” Lopez.

His substitutions didn’t really make any sense to me at all. Largely subs for subs sake, didn’t seem to have a real game plan, and, unusually for Tuca, failed in his sharp instinct for killing games off. He said afterwards that Veracruz were better (I’m not so sure), and that we are missing many things – just a couple of weeks after saying we were fine and 100% ready.

Cards:-
Veracruz
40 mins – Mondragon
60 mins – Victorino – what a difference a six month “holiday” makes!
90 mins – Ayala

Pumas
66 mins – Parejita
All in all, a very well refereed match, by the pick of Mexican refs, Armando Archundia.

Goals:-
0-1 – (28 mins) Jose Luis Parejita picked up the ball on the right, advanced a long way, and put in a lovely cross, to find an unmarked Francisco Palencia, who headed well, past a useless attempt by Jorge Bernal
1-1 – (68 mins) Mancilla received the ball just outside the area, and passed short to Lucas Ayala, who had one touch, and hit it like a rocket, which Sergio Bernal fluffed, and sent into the net
2-1 – (87 mins) Rafael "Chiquis" García advanced down the right, and sent in a cross to the heart of the area, which passed Veron and Ayala, but reached Hector Mancilla who headed well, passed the flailing Bernal.

Crowd:-
25,000 They had said that some sections would be closed following the discovery of cracks in some stands. I could not see any closed sections. There was a little bit of trouble, following crude, aggressive and poor policing of a relatively small crowd. Once again a potential situation for some mild trouble was escalated by the security forces, uselessly assisted here by the Marines. Now the media is screaming for blood, and I can see this being handled badly by the authorities, and if Mexican football doesn’t learn the lessons of elsewhere, and continue on this path of confrontation and condemnation it may well find it does eventually have real problems in the stadiums; which it seems to me certain sections of the media actually want.

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
Another funny old jornada, with the three big Mexico City teams all falling, Atlante beating Cruz Azul 1-0 (and actually getting 13,000 to the Azteca for it), and Tigres beating America 1-0 in bad tempered match, which finally brought a smile to our faces Saturday night, as we sat watching it whilst eating in La Gaviota – Tricky and Kenny should remember that place (just). Oswaldo Sanchez’s first game against Chivas saw Santos fall 3-2, and other good descenso news, Queretaro losing to Jaguares, and San Luis losing to a Monarcas team which really seem to be finding their feet. Pachuca (4-0) and Atlas (4-1) dealt easily with Monterrey and Tecos respectively.

Pumas Morelos:-
Playing a Veracruz affiliated team, obviously without Pedro Solis, drew 1 each, Oscar Alanis scoring for us.

Descenso – Bottom 6:-
1.2299 Tecos 107 from 87
1.2299 Tigres 107 from 87
1.2069 PUMAS 105 from 87
1.1509 San Luis 61 from 53
1.0920 Santos 95 from 87
1.0000 Queretaro 19 from 19

Next Up:-
Tricky home fixture against a good Jaguares side, we did them 1-0 at their place last season, from good defensive performance and great pass from Scocco, and an even better finish from Parejita. Tough, but we need three points. Sunday 4th February 12.00

Video Highlights Clausura 2007

Highlight Videos – Clausura 2007 - Blog Index
These videos are mostly supplied by Colima24 and Salsportsandnews, and hosted by You Tube. Both these users also appear on the Mexican section of Big Soccer Forums.Keep checking back to this page (it is in the "links" on the right) , as I will update the links as they become available-

Jornada 1 Pumas 0 - Atlas 0 no sign of penalty not given
Jornada 2 Veracruz 2 - Pumas 1 unfortunately just the Veracruz goals
Jornada 3 Pumas 2 - Jaguares 0 at 8 mins 19 secs
Jornada 4 Toluca 2 - Pumas 2 Just Palencia golazo Pumas at 8m30s
Jornada 5 Pumas 2 Santos 1 Pumas at 2 mins 12 secs
Jornada 6 Pachuca 0 - Pumas 0 Pumas at 1 min 17 secs
Jornada 7 Pumas 0 - Cruz Azul 1 Just the goal
Jornada 8 Monterrey 0 - Pumas 1 At 2 mins 41 Secs
Jornada 9 Pumas 0 - Chivas 0 At 8 mins 30 secs
Jornada 10 Necaxa 1 - Pumas 1 Goals by defenders
Jornada 11 Pumas 3 - Queretaro 3 Just Scocco hat-trick
Jornada 12 Atlante 1 - Pumas 1 goal, red card, afters
Jornada 13 Tecos 2 - Pumas 2 Goals
Jornada 14 Pumas 1 - America 1 The goals
Jornada 15 Monarcas 2 - Pumas 1
Jornada 16 Pumas San Luis
Jornada 17 Tigres Pumas

Game 1: Atlas home

Pumas v Atlas
22nd January 2007
CU

Video Highlights
1st Himno of new season
Dale O

Those not present had a greater impact on this match than those present. A large crowd had great hopes of seeing Ailton Da Silva’s return, but he watched from the stands, as he still is not 100% following an injury. RoRo was also up there, serving out a 2 match ban, following the Pachuca punch-up. What was more mystifying was Tuca not using Scocco.

Roro missing out was not so bad, Tuca has made it clear his number one is Bernal, newly called up to the Mexican squad. Today Israel Castro displayed the confident, concentrated, professional type of performance which has also led to a call up for him.

So we started 4-4-2, Jehu Chiapas on the left (how we wish Morales had stayed to cover Ailton), with Gonzalez and new boy Paco Palencia up front. From the very off we showed determination in all parts of the pitch. This Atlas team are decent down the flanks, and showed that today. Velarde did not have a good day defensively, and with Chiapas in front of him, we had a bit of a mess down our left, Leandro, and more often, Veron having to cover. Overall, however we did not have any real scares at the back.

Atlas have also new signings, all of whom played, Olivera from Necaxa, Jair Garcia, from Primera “A” (both of whom came off), and the annoying Chilean Reinaldo Navia, from San Luis. You will remember for him missing a series of sitters against us. Again he was jeered and abused here, he really is an idiot, and his awful attempt at an overhead kick gave us all joy.

Starting brightly we actually had the ball in the net after 15 minutes, a typical well taken hustling goal from Gonzalez who was sadly 2 yards offside. Worse Gonzalez had to go off straight away. This was a shame, he had started well, and running all over as always, not allowing the defence to settle at all. Chupa Lopez came on to replace him. Not Scocco. El Paisano has a second grade muscle injury to his right upper leg. He will miss next weeks game, and we will know more today about its severity.

We lost our way a bit after this injury for about ten minutes, but they were never seriously in it. Chupa had an excellent and spectacular overhead kick go just over, to show a flash of his talent, although Parejita was just behind him, unmarked. On 20 minutes a penalty as stone-cold and clear-cut as you could hope to see was turned down by the ref, right on the spot. I must say this ref did look a little bought, he gave them every tiny contact and turned down at least three two-footed from-behind fouls on our players. This penalty decision was as bad as you’ll see, and every single media source I have seen here in Mexico agrees 100%. Chupa, you can imagine, was less than happy, and got booked after final whistle, complaining.

No changes at half time, and we continued in much the same way, controlling the midfield, solid at the back, but failing in the last third. The last 15 minutes was all Pumas, but several missed chances, notably Paco Palencia in another one-on-one disaster, his second. I am hoping he is just rusty, and will get back to form soon. I think his contribution added to our midfield dominance, even if he was sadly lacking in front of the onion bag. Chupa also hit a good chance direct at the keeper, but overall we were taking the game to them, notably Pareja and Leandro.

So all in all a scrappy affair, which we had the best of. Carrying on from where we left off, defensively sound, better in midfield, and the same problems in the last third. The area where some types of players make their money, and make their names. Players like Ailton Da Silva and Ignacio Scocco.

Match Ratings:-

Bernal – 7 - not too much to do, excellent reading of the game today, a few punches a little uncertain.

Velarde – 6 - not a good game today, caught out of position way too often, although good going forward
Veron – 9 – MOM - absolutely awesome today. won everything, always found his man with every pass out. Had to cover Velarde a lot. Also had a good headed chance just over.
Pikolin – 7 - good game, solid, reading it well, too happy to hoof it forward, but some nice little passes too, worked well when Veron was out covering left
Castro – 8 - solid game, usual professional performance

Chiapas – 6 - not too impressive, and with Velarde not on song, the left was a bit of a mess, especially 1st half (subbed off 59 mins)
Sancho – 8 - good game, leading from the front, along with Leandro, gave us control in middle of park
Leandro – 8 - very good Leandro performance, charging runs, taking the game to them, set pieces not good today
Pareja – 8 - another good performance, again really showing more ganas than most of the team, always finding space, his team mates oddly not using him enough, crossing not up to scratch

Gonzalez – 7 - the energy and determination he shows is always great, first touch (as can happen with him) let him down once, took the (offside) goal well. hustle, hustle, hustle. 7 really the maximum you can have with only 15 mins. (subbed 16 mins)

Palencia – 6 - a few good runs, no understanding with his colleagues yet, helped control the centre but took his chances very badly, and that’s a number 9’s job (well, number 17 in this case)

Subs:-
Chupa Lopez – 6 – (16 mins) excellent over head kick narrowly over, clear cut pen turned down on him, but overall looked poor, and will NOT work, frustrating. Did look dangerous occasionally, but his low work rate annoys me. “Lazy and Greedy” was heard from the terraces (that was me, to be fair)
Iñiguez – 5 – (59 mins) poor. You know I don't like him, but Tuca had 4 or 5 better options.

DT
Ricardo “Tuca” Ferreti – 7 – difficult to know, without knowing if Scocco was unavailable. Bold starting line up, probably would have been correct if Gonzalez not injured. As to his substitutions, they were both wrong, and Chiapas should have been replaced at half time, although we do not have real left wing cover now, maybe could have pushed Leandro left, although not sure. He seemed uncertain and unconvincing in his changes (or non-changes)

Cards:-
Pumas
28 mins – Leandro
30 mins – Palencia
53 mins – Veron
90 mins+ - Chupa (usual post-match chat)

Atlas
26 mins – Navia – petulantly pushed Pikolin over
28 mins – Olivera
50 mins – Valdez
56 mins – Perez
80 mins – Robles
85 mins – Medina

Crowd:-
38,000

Pumas Morelia:-
Played Cruz Azul Hidalgo, also at midday Sunday, sadly lost 2-0. This is the second round, last week they beat the America affiliated team Socio Aguila 2-0 – HOORAY! Both goals from Pedro Solis.

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
A goalkeepers jornada, Monterrey’s Orozco keeping out a resurgent Santos, and their new keeper Oswaldo Sanchez being beaten last minute, giving Monterrey a 1-0 victory against the play. Veracruz’s Jorge Bernal played a blinder, including a remarkable triple save, to keep their game in Queretaro goalless. Cuauhtemoc Blanco had a great game, and scored a scorcher to give America 4-1 victory over San Luis, “El Loco” Abreu missing another weak penalty. Pick of the games, Cruz Azul 3, Pachuca 2, Jared Borgetti opening the scoring, before missing a couple of good chances. Tecos beat Tigres, the new signings, Pony Ruiz and Kikin Fonseca looking superb and disappointing respectively.

Descenso bottom 7:-
1.2674 Atlante 109 from 86
1.2442 Tecos 107 from 86
1.2209 PUMAS 105 from 86
1.2093 Tigres 104 from 86
1.1731 San Luis 61 from 52
1.1047 Santos 95 from 86
1.0556 Queretaro 19 from 18

Next Up:-
Estadio Luis Pirata Funtes (named after a player who used to play drunk, I hear), Veracruz Saturday 27th January, 5pm, and we are going. Cracking little stadium by the sea, and we did them 3-1 at home last season, although we will have to get passed Jorge Bernal, who was outstanding this week.