Game 14: Pumas 1 - 2 Cruz Azul

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In an entertaining game in CU, Pumas once again were unable to work out how to win against an enterprising cementero team, for whom Miguel Sabah and "el chelito" Delgado were the stars. The same old Pumas failings were present: of controlling a game but failing to take the chances that came their way; of inattention down the flanks; of receiving the ball too often stationary and with the back to goal. Cruz Azul stay in contention for qualification in group 3, while Pumas still cling on to second in group one due to a strange Pachuca defeat in Monterrey, and Puebla were unable to move much closer after a drab draw against Veracruz.

Pumas started with a familiar formation: Barrera wide right, Sambueza on the left, and the Castro-Leandro axis in the centre. Bernal is clearly still not fit and his place in goal was taken by Patiño with Palacios moving up to the bench. In the first fifteen minutes Pumas had marginally the better of it, with Solari missing a free header from a neat Barrera cross eight yards out, and Leandro blasting wide when the ball fell loose to him on the edge of the box. Meanwhile Sabah had come closest for Cruz Azul at the other end, stabbing an excellent Delgado cross lamely at Patiño.

Cruz Azul then had their best spell of the first half, again prompted by Delgado as he put in a dangerous ball from the right which just went over the head of Sabah who was in the clear. And then there were calls for a penalty on 20 minutes when Moreno, who had earlier been booked for nothing much, was accused of handling as Chelito flicked through. The ball appeared to hit the top of the chest - shoulder area and Moreno was withdrawing his arm, but the call could have gone either way. Luckily for the university team, at that point, and in my view rightly, the referee waved play on.

The game then went rather quiet as both teams looked to consolidate, but towards the end of the half Pumas again gained the upper hand. Solari headed straight into "el conejo"'s arms after good work from Sambueza, and a series of corners resulted in a weak Pumas header rolling easily to Pérez. And right on half time Solari was unable to strike cleanly when the ball fell to him about 12 yards out and it was deflected for a corner.

At half time, Pumas on balance were slightly the better team. The game was being played at a faster pace than normal in CU (perhaps due to the colder weather in D.F.)and Barrera and Sambueza had both been lively.

The first ten minutes of the second half were full of incident and drama. Chelito had switched flanks to the left and was looking dangerous and on 47 minutes he swung in a nice cross towards the far post. Sabah arrived marked by Velarde. There was no contact whatsoever (in fact clear daylight between the players) but as Sabah fell to the floor referee José Abramo mystifyingly awarded a penalty. Sabah stood up to convert confidently from the spot and Cruz Azul were one up.

I really do hope that the referee was not trying to "make up" for the first half incident with Moreno. It is the sort of dreadful decision that makes a mockery of Mexican football. And it is not an isolated incident in the Mexican top flight. San Luis were awarded a similarly incorrect penalty on Friday night which thankfully was missed and did not affect the result (San Luis beat Tecos 3-2). And to make matters worse Verón was booked for encroaching at the penalty when half the players of both teams were doing likewise.

To give credit to Pumas they picked themselves up after the goal and Solari had a half chance as he took the ball again with his back to goal, he just failed to reach an inviting cross from Scocco, and Scocco was cautioned for diving when on another day a penalty might have been awarded (in my view it was clearly not a penalty but there was contact between the players and the card was excessive). Similarly Castro picked up a yellow for a tackle from behind on Delgado.

Then on 56 minutes Pumas were level. A darting run by Sambueza drew three defenders and the ball broke to Solari on the left hand edge of the penalty area and he finished with a thundering left foot drive that gave Pérez no chance. It was no more than Pumas deserved and Espinoza had started to get the measure of Delgado. Five minutes later and Moreno went close with a header from a Leandro corner. Cruz Azul needed to change something and they brought on Nuñez and Velasco.

For some reason Tuca decided that Pumas too needed to change things. The team was on top, the game was there for the taking, and mysteriously he brought off Scocco who had been a problem for the cementero defence as he drifted in front of them, to bring on Palencia who proceeded to play slowly and predictably down the inside-right channel. Solari and Paco are too similar to play together yet Ferretti insists on bringing off Scocco in these situations. With Iñiguez coming on he was clearly trying to keep the balance, but Pumas do not need to play with two static forwards who constantly have their back to goal.

Nevertheless the game was opening up now anyone's for the taking, and it was Cruz Azul who took the chance. On 69 minutes Delgado swept to the by-line past a sleeping defence from a throw-in on the right and crossed expertly for Sabah to beat Espinoza and head home.

Again Pumas reacted positively, but by this time Cruz Azul had decided to sit back and play the game out, with the chance of a goal on the break. The referee also wielded another couple of pointless yellow cards for Velasco, Espinoza and Leandro. It has to be said, though, that Leandro often gets himself into trouble by failing to keep his opinions to himself when he feels the official has made a mistake.

As the game headed for the last ten minutes, Pumas should have been level. Leandro swung over an excellent corner, and Verón lost his marker but failed to take advantage of a gaping net from six yards out as he put his header wide. In this kind of match it is the sort of chance that needs to be taken.

Five minutes later Verón was off the field. After a wonderful piece of defending in which he outpaced Delgado, shielded the ball and steadied himself to clear, Verón was manhandled by the Argentinian who grabbed him with both hands. Rather than content himself with the free-kick however Verón tried to wrestle himself free and a flailing elbow gave Chelito the chance to throw himself on the floor with his head in his hands. There was contact and the referee was right to send Verón off, although in my opinion it should have been for a second yellow not a straight red, as there seemed to be no attempt to aim the elbow at Delgado.

By that time the game was over but there was just time for Patiño to earn himself a senseless booking by charging out of his area to commit an unnecessary foul.

One or two interesting points about the game. Firstly there was a female referee's assistant Isabel Tovar (with a rather fetching diagonal parting in her hair too). It is good to see the world of football embracing the possibility of female officials at the top level. Secondly there were large swathes of the stands in CU which were empty. I cannot believe it is because of the América v Chivas game later on, and the idea of emptying half the stands as a precaution against trouble is crazy. There were ten or fifteen metre sections cordoned off for this purpose, including between Pebetero and Cabecera Norte, both Pumas sections. It would be interesting to hear a rationale for this policy.

Goals
Sabah (pen)(47 minutes) 0-1
Solari (56) 1-1
Sabah (69) 1-2

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Moreno, Scocco, Castro, Espinoza, Leandro. red: Verón
Cruz Azul: yellow: Velasco, Delgado

Player Ratings

Patiño 6: nothing much wrong except his mad rush out at the end
Velarde 6: had trouble with Delgado but not to blame for the penalty
Espinoza 5: going through a bad patch and was to blame for both goals
Verón 6: excellent until his mad rush of blood
Moreno 6: very solid
Leandro 7: worked hard and behind Pumas best work
Castro 6: Not at his best but solid
Sambueza 8: dangerous. Always a threat.
Solari 6: gets into scoring positions but...(see previous games)
Scocco 6: mixed bag
Barrera 6: dangerous in the first half but faded
Palencia 5: poor
Iñiguez 5: did little

Tuca 5: Paco has done nothing to merit coming on, nor Iñiguez. They were changes for the sake of changes...

Elsewhere in Mexico
Toluca drew in Tuxtla to consolidate top of group one and move into second overall following Atlante's 2-0 home defeat to Necaxa. San Luis continued their good form while Santos put five past Atlas in the Jalisco. Monterrey beat Pachuca three one in a game with four sendings off, including the referee actually hitting a player while brandishing the yellow card. Arellano of Monterrey was understandably upset, but the referee decided to look for an excuse to send him off and found one within a minute. Madness. Finally in the clásico América edged past Chivas 2-1 in the Azteca with two goals from "el toro" Silva.

Next up
A tough game away midweek at Toluca.