Game 15: Monarcas away

Monarcas v Pumas
Estadio Morelos
14th April 2007

Video Highlights

Finally we break our six game run of draws. Six games from which we should have won, but draw, in this game we should have got a draw – but lost. Bernal back (from injury), and Parejita back (from suspension), and Jehu Chiapas still starting on the left, as Ailton is slowly coming back from his long lay off.

Things went bad from the off, Pikolin failing to judge or deal with a simple dinked in ball at all, to give a half chance, which was intelligently and well finished leaving Bernal little chance. 1-0 down after three minutes, very very annoying.

We certainly played well, but Pikolin’s nightmare start continued as he found himself in the box on his own from a corner. Very clearly having no idea what to do he nervously chested the ball away to lose it.

Morelia were losing the ball far to often, but we were failing to do much with it, and as the half wore on they came more into it, and Leandro became less visible.

Veron was looking mostly good, and saving us the Pikolin errors, but even he was well and truly done in the box, but Bernal saved well. Once again, even when on top, we were not decisive enough in the last third – Scocco particularly was not present. Chiapas missed a wonderful opportunity, following great work down the right from Parejita who managed to track down an impossible ball, kept it in and turn his man at full speed, and in one move, then put inn a lovely cross, which Jehu attacked well, but failed to get real contact.

No changes at half time, but we started a bit better, but still seemed to lack urgency, but when Ailton came on for Jehu we seemed to go up a gear. Ailton still looks a bit rusty, but he’s clearly still a tremendously exciting player. We soon had a best move of the game, which, frustratingly, ended with the ball in the back of our net. From a corner, a mis-clearance wnet high towards our corner flag, some wonderful work between Parejita and Castro saw the ball come away, and we broke very quickly, the quickest break away I have seen from Pumas in ages. It finished with a breath-taking long shot from Leandro, which left the keeper for dead – watch the reply, he does not react at all to the shot. It hit the underside of the bar, bounced off the line, and away. Clearly did not cross, but it so easily could have, and the game would have been ours.

Instead within seconds they had a corner, and scored following another Pikolin lack of concentration. Annoying in the extreme, especially to give away another goal to a set piece. I am not sure where our lack of concentration at the back has come from, but today it seemed to affect almost everybody at some point, and above all the organisation at the back was the worst I have seen for some time.

Straight away Tuca made another change, Íñiguez on for Parejita. I thought the lad had had an excellent game, but Íñiguez moved us up yet another gear, and now we were at full speed, and looking dangerous and urgent at last. Even Scocco woke up with a lovely rasping long shot well saved, and charging down the keeper to earn a clear penalty, not given. The ref was awful today, missed lots, was inconsistent and inaccurate with his cards throughout, but it affected both teams. He was very nervous, and didn’t seem able to control the game at all. Bottled out on clear second yellows on a number of occasions, and both teams should have had penalties. Early on a weak back pass was charged down by Chiapas, and the keeper collected it, for what was an obvious indirect free kick in the box, but he somehow missed it. To be fait to both sets of players, they showed good discipline; given the glaring errors and random nature of the ref, there were hardly any complaints, or surrounding of him.

From a corner the ball bounced loose where Íñiguez reacted quickest and hit it goalwise, it took a big deflection off Scocco, and some outlets have awarded him the goal, but I feel it was right to credit it to Íñiguez. At full flow and 2-1 down and 15 minutes left, I really felt we could get back into this – even win it. But t was not to be, a vicious clash on young Velarde led to him being stretched off (replaced by Gonzalez), this was a clear second bookable offence, again ignored. Most of the 4 minutes added on were used up by Morelia played lying on the floor following non contact, and the ref’s reputation was further tarnished by the way he handled the death of this intense and enjoyable encounter.

Ratings:-
Bernal – 8 – maybe should have been quicker to react on first goal, but was unsighted. A wonderful save kept us in it, and he looked assured throughout.

Castro – 7 – thought he looked really good today
Veron – 8 – excellent overall, but even he made a couple of mis-judgements
Pikolin – 5 – sorry, but big faults for both goals, positioning all over the place, and not much help in set pieces up front. Had a couple of runs going forward which only served to remind us what a donkey he is at heart
Velarde – 7 – more assured, and good going forward. I like him a lot, did a great job on Arce (subbed 89 minutes)

Jehu – 6 – I felt he is stronger and better than at the beginning of this season, but not quite there – missed a great chance to get us back in the game, if he had headed home in the first half we would have gone on to win. Probably. (subbed 54 mins)
Sancho – 8 – thought he was making himself felt today
Leandro – 7 – like the curates egg, good in parts. Overall he looked good first 20, including fine run, and looked much better in second half, but went AWOL in last 20 of first half, we need him to play the full 90
Parejita – 8 – MOM – not sure why he came off, I thought he was excellent, covered every blade of grass on the right, and always in the right place at right time (subbed 67 mins)

Scocco – 6 – maybe a five, just not there at all until about the 80th minute, when he suddenly came to life and caused them big headached. Also needs to be there the full 90
Palencia – 8 – good game overall, but I still wonder if his presence in the front line has added to our lack of ruthlessness. Also was more or less kept in a box by Tiago

Subs:-
Ailton – 7 – 54 mins – still not there 100%, but is a fine player, and caused problems
Íñiguez – 8 – 67 mins – showed fine first control, put in three nasty crosses in about 5 minutes, and scored.
Gonzalez – 6 – 89 mins – not on long enough.

DT:-
Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti – 8 – good changes, but not getting his vision on the pitch any more

Cards:-
30 mins – Castro
35 mins – Velarde
Not bookable, either of them, but Castro was lucky to get away later with a slap to the head, not like the usual ice-cool Castro

Goals:-
1 - 0 – 3 mins – A dinked in ball fought between Pikloin and Luis Gabriel Rey, who poked it cleverly into the far post
2 – 0 - 67 mins – a Arce corner met by Wilson Tiago Mathias, who easily beat Pikolin to it.
2 – 1 – 73 mins – ball bobbled out to Ismael Íñiguez, following Leandro corner, who fired home, the ball taking a couple of deflections on way through.

Crowd:-
40,000. The TV was at pains to point out how much of a friendly family atmosphere it was.

Qualification:-
Group 3
1st America 27pts +11
2nd Tigres 22pts -2
3rd Morelia 19pts +1
4th Santos 19pts 0
5th Pumas 18pts +1
6th Toluca 15pts -3

Our only hope now is to win our last two games and sneak into the Repechaje, which is frustrating, because in many ways we are playing better than last season. We could easily be run away leaders of the league this season, but every defence error has cost us dear, and Paco’s negative influence at the front (despite the fine work he does supporting the midfield) has cost us dear. In the last 7 games we have dropped 11, maybe even 13 points, maybe even 15. With 33 points we would be joint super-lideres. But they don’t play it in my head.

Next up:-
At home against San Luis Sunday 22nd April at midday. A must win, obviously. And no reason we shouldn’t win. Except we have clearly forgotten how to.