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