Game 8: Monterrey away

Monterrey vs Pumas
Tecnológico en Monterrey
3rd March 2007

Video Highlights - Pumas at 2m41s

A dominate performance, a terrible decision and a nice goal saw Pumas deservedly and expectedly pick up three points. I have watched a bit of Mexican football, but Pareja’s straight red for showing mild annoyance left me shocked. Happily the team recovered a lot quicker, and better, than I did, and have not been beaten there now in six games.

Despite dominating in all areas of the park, we still lack ambition in the final third, and I continue to be concerned about where goals will come from. Maybe we should sign Chris Martin.

From the off it was all Pumas, and defensively we looked extremely sound. Leandro had a much better game, more like himself, and Sancho stepping up to be counted. The only worries were Chiapas out left, still struggling, and Paco Palencia. Both he and Israel Castro came on for Mexico midweek in the 3-1 victory against Venezuela. Castro seemed to have benefited greatly from this recognition, yet Paco’s performance once again left me wondering if he is anywhere close to International standard.

Whilst no one can complain about how hard he works, he is far too negative for a forward player, and his shooting was way, way off target today. His striking partner today, Ignacio Scocco, got little service, but occasionally showed the flair and ability which should ensure his 90 minutes every week, but doesn’t – you can see him turning a game; you can’t see Palencia doing it.

Castro had an “identikit” version of his goal vs Real Madrid, down to the build up, but whereas that night it went into the bottom corner, today it was higher, and forced an excellent save. (Jonathan Orozco better than Iker Casillas, anyone?)

No changes at half time, and following the appalling red card for Parejita, Tuca pulled Scocco off for Espinosa. My initial thought was that this was plain wrong, Scocco had been quiet, and had missed a good chance in from a cross, but he still looked a lot more dangerous than Palencia. Even with the dismissal of Pareja, anything less than 3 points would be points dropped.

However, Leandro took a fine free kick, which was met beautifully by Castro, who headed hard and down into the bottom corner, leaving Orozco no chance. From then on, we continued to dominate, and you never felt that Monterrey would come back into it. And Paco’s strength, and ability to hold the ball up, helped us greatly in the end.

Ratings:-
RoRo – 7 – not much to do, but confident and assured. Not sure why Bernal was out, on his 37th birthday

Velarde – 8 – finally getting back to his form of last year
Veron – 8 – excellent showing, but today outshown by his junior partner
Pikolin – 9 – can’t think of anywhere he put a foot wrong, and as for taking their top striker out of the game – cannot be bettered, he kept Zarate in a box throughout
Castro – 9 – MOM – pulling on the Mexico jersey seems to have given him a real confidence boost. Dangerous going forward, flawless in defence, and as beautiful worked and headed goal to boot. The goal got him mom ahead of Sideshow

Chiapas – 6 – still wishing we had Morales (subbed 82 mins)
Leandro – 9 – much more like the Leandro we all yearn for, and a perfect free kick for goal
Sancho – 8 – much more the Sancho we all yearn for – leading the team as a skipper should
Parejita – 8 – thought he was having yet another excellent game – deeply unlucky to see red

Scocco – 7 – no service, but keen, and showed the danger he can inflict, taking the ball off defenders when he wants (subbed 59 mins)
Palencia – 7 – worked very hard, but overall too negative in a game we were dominating (subbed 89 mins)

Subs:-
Espinosa – 7 – thought he looked excellent today
Alex Diego – 7 – only a short time, but also looked good
Gonzalez – 7 – one minute, but so keen

DT:-
Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti – 7 – out played and out thought them in every department. Defending “with the ball” perfect, but must work on last third, and should not be scared of creative players.

Cards:-
Monterrey
50 mins – Baños
60 mins – Ibarra
90 mins – Zarate – frustrated by impotency

Pumas
24 mins – Palencia – late challenge took foot away
37 mins – Sancho
55 mins – Parejita – STRAIGHT RED – various sources agree this was over the top, the ref failed to give a clear foul on him, he threw his hand away in frustration, and was given a red. If this was applied every time it occurred, we would have seen 10 reds in this game alone. Bad referring, displaying a lack of authority
72 mins – Leandro – he looked up to see who was in the box before taking a free kick, and was booked for time wasting
84 mins – Diego

Goal:-
0 - 1 - 66 mins - A well worked free kick from down the left wing. Straight off the Cantera blackboard onto the pitch. Leandro executed it perfectly, and Israel Castro’s header into the bottom corner could not have been bettered

Crowd:-
34,000 – The rebel were excluded

Elsewhere in Mexico:-
Toluca got another draw one all with San Luis. Santos finally won, as Morelia tried to sit on a 1-0 lead, and ultimately lost 2-1.Pachuca beat America 1-0, which is nice, and Tigres won excitingly 3-2 at Jaguares. Queretaro lost 2-0 to Chivas, who just look too good at the moment. Goal of the week from “The Hobbit” (Christian Bermúdez) as Atlante beat Necaxa 3-0. This is the first goal in the top flight for this talented young man.

Pumas Morelos:-
An own goal, and another from Gaston Capari saw the second team win 2-1 against Lobos BUAP. This leaves us 5th in group 2, and on the up. Next week they visit Monterrey’s second team.

Descenso:-
Safer every week, however still only 4th in the group, but its quite tight. Here are the bottom 5 in percentage table:-
14th 1.2473 PUMAS 116 from 93
15th 1.2151 Tecos 113 from 93
16th 1.2203 San Luis 72 from 59
17th 1.0753 Santos 100 from 93
18th 1.0400 Queretaro 26 from 25

Next Up:-
We are at home against the current champions, Chivas, CU Sunday 11th March 2007. This will be a test of just how good our defence is, because going forward they are hotter than biscuits.