Game 3 – Pumas vs America

The whore that is your sister...never heard that one before.

Football chants are strange entity, turning seemingly placid, non homophobic, ordinary people into racist scum. The clasico, Pumas vs America, is at the top of shock football chant list in my opinion. My personal favourite is the scandalous accusation from the Pumas supporters that if club America had a son it might well turn out homosexual. When Diego Salinas made the short journey across town from the Azteca to the CU, he was told in no uncertain terms, through the medium of chant; he would kidnapped and killed for the move. The rebel, in a very rebellious move might I add, then issued an apology for the content of the chant.

I only mention the homophobic son and the Salinas apologies because I failed to make it to the match today as I found out that Paola is pregnant. Man City beat Man Utd today to go top of the Prem and leave Man Utd in 16th, so perhaps the stars have aligned to produce an attacking midfielder of quality in the coming nine months. I’m thinking of soothing the baby with some stadium sound while in the belly, just to get him used to the big match experience. Maybe then he won’t choke as he gets a golden one on one in the final of the 2026 world cup for Mexico.

One bunch of chokers, or is that jokers, that does spring to mind is the Puma’s defence. After 55 seconds, Cabanas was left onside by Velarde. He half muscled his way past Velarde and half beat him for pace to flick a very deft little chip over Bernal. The floodgates looked to open and not for the first time this season did the Wild West defence of Deputy Castro, Doc ‘on Holiday’ Veron, The Moreno Kid and Chief Velarde looked like they’d been on the wrong end of shootout.

If babies have listening ability after said number of weeks, the first word it might have well heard was “C***!”

Surprisingly though heads did not drop and Pumas produced what I think was excellent recovery throughout the game and were ultimately unlucky not to win the match. Iniguez caused all sorts of problems and Solari started to look the part, preferring to use his upper body strength rather than pace to beat a man.

5 Minutes and 22 seconds came the equaliser. A great little one to two between Iniguez and Solari, pushed Solari to the bi-line. He went in brave against Ochoa and the ball bumbled across the line for Paco to toe poke home. His air pumped fists showed some signs of life.

The next 35 minutes it was all Pumas. Palencia fizzed one across the left hand post. Barrera came on for Sambueza and found a bit of joy on the wing. Leandro looked better positioned and there was a lot of room on the right wing, were Pumas enjoyed a lot of control. Iniguez hit the bar with a bullet header on 35 minutes and from what I can make out Pumas went in half time to cheers.

The second half was slightly muted in comparison to the first half and Pumas again failed to make the possession count against a stronger opposition. A lack of belief held them back. Several good chances fell to Pumas but the scenario was all too familiar. The game descended to a tossed in final ball and bitty midfield menagerie, showing no quality for the strikers who looked hungry, but were fed unfortunately on scraps for the second half. Oh for a winger who can cross? Maybe in 18 or so years.

I’ll take a point at home to America. The desire was evident and the team showed good resilience to come from behind, but should have, could have, finished it!

John Kelly

Game 2: Atlante 1 Pumas 0

In quite an appalling match Atlante made a winning start to their stay in Cancun in front of a packed Andrés Quintana Roo stadium. An early goal by Cameroon striker Alain Nkong was enough to see them past a Pumas side woefully short on ideas and still unable to finish.

Pumas surprisingly started with Scocco instead of Paco Palencia, who had been suffering from an injury in the week, but who was fit enough to be named on the bench. Otherwise it was the same side that played adequately against an unambitious Chivas the previous Sunday.

On a pitch in dreadful condition Atlante (jokingly now known as the "seahorses" since their move to the Caribbean) made much the brighter start. The Pumas midfield was harried and unable to hold onto the ball, as the "Iron colts" streamed forward with more enthusiasm than menace. Yet after five minutes they were ahead. A dreadful clearance by Castro fell straight to the feet of Nkong who hit it directly at Bernal, but the goalkeeper nevertheless managed to leap out of the way in time for the ball to roll calmly into the net. And frankly that was that for excitement.

Pereyra was well in control in the middle for Atlante, but as the half wore on Pumas were able to build, albeit slowly, from the back and Leandro and Sambueza came more into the game. It is still difficult to fathom what Tuca sees in Gerardo Espinoza and he was dreadfully anonymous once again. There was little to cheer about as the home team started to sit back and watch Pumas make a mess of any ball aimed at all forward. They honestly missed Paco who had done a good job of tidying up the rubbish around the opposition "D" against Chivas. There were nevertheless a couple of wasted half chances for Solari and Scocco before the half-time break.

Pumas came out more positively for the second half (well they couldn't really have been much worse!). Iñiguez came on for Barrera and made little to no difference and then both Verón and Espinoza went off for injuries after colliding with each other. This brought on a bright Fernando Espinoza, and Carlos Humberto González who I had never seen before but who really didn't impress much.

There was precious little meaningful action for the rest of the match. Bernal tried desperately to spill an easy long range shot, and then pulled off a good save from Maldonado, while at the other end Vilar made regulation saves against woeful Pumas finishing. To top it all, in the last minute F.Espinoza put in a wonderful cross for Scocco to rise unmarked about 8 yards out and guide the ball neatly into the goalie's arms. Game set and match Atlante.

The second half was blighted not only by the incompetence of both teams, but also by a deteriorating pitch and some excessively finicky refereeing (classed as good by mediotiempo but then...) and of course the familiar flurry of cards towards the end, including the ludicrous sending off of Nkong. God knows it can't be a worse game next week.

Goals
Alain Nkong (Atlante) 5 mins.

Cards
Yellow
Atlante: Pereyra, Maldonado, Zamora, Guerrero
Pumas: Verón, Sambueza
Red
Atlante: Nkong
Pumas: None

Ratings
Bernal 4
Erratic and in my mind partly to blame for the goal.

Castro 5
A solid display once again spoiled by giving away the goal.

Moreno 5
Too easily flustered but will improve.

Verón 5
Below par

Velarde 6
The only defender with any spark (forgive the pun given that his nickname is Chispa)

G. Espinoza 3
Why can't we have a ball winner in midfield?

Leandro 5
Took a long time to get into the game.

Barrera 4
Completely anonymous.

Sambueza 6
Looked menacing on occasions but the underfoot conditions didn't suit him.

Scocco 5
Got into good positions but must finish.

Solari 4
Looks slow and ponderous. Needs to score as he does nothing else.

Iñiguez 4
Didn't relish the mud and needs to work on his ball control.

F. Espinoza 6
Played well brought some nice ideas to the right hand side.

Gonzalez 4
Hardly noticed him at all.

Tuca 5
Can't be completely resonsible for such a limp display, but still needs to get more out of his players.

We have problems on the right midfield and defensive midfield. Maybe Tuca should consider Castro at contención where he played some of last year, and bring in Fernando Espinoza at right back. I would welcome any views, and possibly so would Ferretti!

Remarkably we are still third in our group as apart from Pachuca everyone has one point. Other results included Pachuca's contginuing good form and América thrashing Jaguares 6-1.

Next up: home to América. THE big game. Enjoy.

This report was brought to you by Tricky. Hopefully John will be back next week to report on the atmosphere in CU against the chickens.

From John - The comment option is working but not showing comments that are there. Cheers

Game 1(2007) Puma vs Chivas

Pumas vs Chivas

It was hot. Even hotter than I remembered it from last season and while the standard of football rarely matched the temperature in terms of sizzle and scorch, I was very happy to see Pumas win a point in the dying minutes against a Chivas side who seemed at times to have the technical edge, but played with a distinct lack of desire. When the season fixtures come out, every football fan looks through the list to find the dates of big clubs, so I was delighted to find the first game of the season listed as Chivas, the only Mexican team I had never seen live in two seasons.

There was a real party atmosphere inside the CU, with numerous old friends meeting up for this game, some to say farewell to the stadium and to the team for the unforeseeable future and others for another couple of months. Yet this party atmosphere didn’t last long, as after three minutes in typical Pumas fashion and after some shabby Wild West defending by one Deputy Castro, Omar B bagged. Omar B pasted the Deputy for pace and levered his scrawny frame around the corner to score one of the easiest of goals he'll get this season, albeit very well taken. Castro not so much cat napping as hardcore kipping on the job. Bernal still had his head in the Carribean.

My initial reaction was to blame Picolin, but seems those days have long gone. A collective feeling descended into the ground that even after three minutes the season may already be panning out to be a long and dark one. For the next fifteen minutes Morales ripped past Castro twice more and if it wasn’t for a bit of quality in his crossing and greedy little shot to himself, it could have been more. There were somone gapping holes in midfield and several missed tackles by Leandro and Espinoza without even a toe in, served to remind everyone in the stadium that Leandro and Espinoza match up at centre mid was new and fragile. Paco Palencia was ready for a bit dirty work and his graft in and around the box gave a glimmer of hope. Coming from Paco’s hard work the new boy Esteban Solari, brother of, had his first half chance. It was unfortunately shades of Chupa, rather than Marrioni, as his tame shot limped into the keeper’s hands, while he ordered a taxi.

Who was in midfield? Anyone?

By twenty five minutes however, we had settled and we had weathered the early exchange. A more advanced Leandro managed to get hold of the ball and Sambueza in particular showed several nice drops of the shoulder, but no legs to properly beat his man. Pumas started to want it more, but not enough for my liking. The random and aimless crossing of our sparkling midfield quartet never really troubled Chivas, but a good close shot from Espinoza woke everybody up and took Pumas in 0-1 down at half time.

“We’re always better shooting North.”

2nd Half
Half time saw the introduction of Scocco, much to the delight of the home fans and in particular Dave. His first contribution was a delicate piece of control outside the area followed by a wild hack into outer space, a few more wild hacks followed and then he gave up for the day. Leandro and Espinoza had moved up the pitch and were wining a fair share of there 50-50’s in midfield and tension was mounting but not it seemed any real sustained pressure by Pumas. The game descended into a sequence of good cover play followed by a very poor final ball. New season, same problems. By 70 minutes the beers had kicked in and the final 20 minutes were a bit of blur, needless to say we didn’t score until...

1-1

Luis Solari scored on his debut (which is nice) but really it was gift from some abstractly poor Chivas defending. I was glad he tucked it away in the 86th minute, showing a good degree of composure and fitness, yet saying this the lad clearly has no pace. Not that this is a problem for Pumas, as we have pace in abundance up front, in the portly shape of one P Palencia, who apparently washes down a light lunch with full English. A very static front two.

But a point! The ghost of relegation will haunt us for a season or two more but a point against Chivas at home I’ll take.

Ratings

Tuca – 7
Quick to see that Scocco needed to come on at half time. Kept his faith in the new boy for the equaliser, but has he been working with the defence in the close season?

Goals
3 Mins – Omar Bravo
86 Mins – Luis Solari

Crowd – Just over 50,000

Players Ratings

Bernal – 6
Could have done better on Omar Bravo goal?
Velarde – 6
Basic and effective nothing more
Moreno - 6
Edgey at times, needs time to settle into his new role at the club
Veron – 6
Good distribution, but needs to step up to be a leader
Deputy Castro – 5
Got well skinned a few times and was at fault for the goal
Sambueza – 6
Subbed but in my opinion offered a little bit more on the left than usual
Leandro – 7
No complaints, at least he looks liked he wanted it
G. Espinoza – 6
Subbed and looked nervous early, but is clearly more to come from him
Barrera – 5
Not very exciting and a bit too slow for a winger in my opinion
Palencia – 7
Battled and wanted it, but largely used as a medieval torture implement
Solari - 8
Bagged and showed good composure on his debut, but has no pace

Subs

Scocco (for Barrera 46) – 5 A bit light weight and wild hack on him today
Inguuez (for G.Espinoza 64) – 6 Fast, but shit
Chiapas (for Sambueza 75) - ? Couldn’t say too many beers by then, probably as shite as last season

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkHiJedRtNc