Season Review: Apertura 2007

A season to remember for Pumas fans, despite not winning the championship. Pumas produced their best finish since 2004, and played as well as either of the two championship teams of that year. A young defence grew in stature throughout the season, while the new players up front (both homegrown and from abroad) for once gelled into a nice unit. "El Tuca" Ferretti is a Pumas hero and the second highest foreign goalscorer in the club's history (after the legendary Cabinho), as well as a manager who began his career as 'Director Técnico' at the club. He now can claim to have produced a fine team as coach, and was within a whisker of taking the championship.

Pumas began the season slowly after a disappointing end to the Clausura saw them unable to win, with good performances bringing draws and poor ones defeats. This continued in the Apertura, when dominating against Chivas and América in games 1 and 3 they managed only a point from each, while a dismal performance in Cancún led to defeat. It was a similar story when Scocco put them two goals up at home to lowly Puebla, but they ended up conceding two goals near the end for another draw.

The turning point was the win in Chiapas against Jaguares. This period did coincide with playing some of the weaker teams, but Pumas began to play with more confidence, and began to win: against Tecos, Morelia, Atlas and Tigres.

The run in was quite tough, with Toluca, San Luis, Cruz Azul and Pachuca in the last five games. Despite playing well only two points were picked up from those games, but a second-highest ever win against Veracruz 8-0, and the following 1-1 draw in Pachuca sneaked the club into the play-offs.

Pumas were arguably the best team in the play-offs, despatching Toluca and Santos, the top two teams in the league. But despite dominating the home leg of the final against Atlante, they could not give themselves an advantage, and Atlante edged past them in Cancún.

This was a season where Pumas finally found a midfield that could cause problems. There were worries in some quarters that Pumas would struggle to replace Parejita López who had gone to Necaxa. Others said that the loss of Sancho back to Tigres would be a blow. Despite a brief flirtation with the woeful Gerardo Espinoza, Barrera, Sambueza, Castro and Leandro, with support from Chiapas, Iñiguez and Diego became a force to be reckoned with, and almost brought the championship back to CU.

Similarly, after a few years of strikers never quite making it in CU since Marioni in 2004 (Diego Alonso an exception I would say), Scocco finally began to fulfill his excellent promise, and Solari came from the heights of the Cypriot league to become the second most prolific scorer in open play in Mexico, despite looking a bit ponderous.

If there is a criticism of the team, it is that too often they were unable to turn dominant performances into victories. We remember the home leg against Atlante, the regular fixture in Toluca, the defeat in Monterrey. It may be that Solari is not the answer to Pumas' goalscoring worries, and Paco Palencia (despite carrying an injury) did little to show that he could once more live up to his "Gatillero" nickname.

There are young players coming through, and we may also see some movement over the Christmas period, but the team looks in a good state heading into 2008, and we can be optimistic for some more good football in the New Year.

Moment of the Season
The moment that changed the season for me was Solari's 91st minute goal to win in Tuxtla Gutierrez against Jaguares, and end Pumas' dreadful non-winning streak. Credit must go to Scocco for his fine lead up work and cross, and Solari nodded in from close range. From then on Pumas played with more confidence and were not afraid to win.

Goal of the Season
Some great goals, including Scocco's strike against Santos in the semi-final, but I have to go with Sambueza's goal in Pachuca in the crucial last game of the regular season. Scocco jinked an opening faced with three players, and his cross on the edge of the box was hit beautifully first time to the top corner.

Team performance of the season
A fantastic performance in CU to beat Santos 3-0, without really giving them a chance all game. In fact it could have been five or six.

Individual performance of the season
Pablo Barrera v Veracruz. Although he had a great second half to the season, everything came off for him in this game against the "Tiburones". Scored two, set up three, and ran and crossed superbly.

Worst Moment
Clearly the late goal by Clemente Ovalle that lost Pumas the championship against Atlante.

Worst Player
Gerardo Espinoza never played, in my view, a single minute of worthwhile football for Pumas this season. Luckily 'Tuca' saw it that way as well, and while Pumas improved late in the season, he never again saw first team action.

Young Player of the Season
I am very tempted to go with Héctor Moreno, who had a fantastic first season as a first team regular after the departure of Pikolín Palacios. But young player of the season really cannot be given to anyone other than Pablo Barrera.

Player of the Season
This award ought to have been easy, if we had player ratings for every game. Unfortunately there are no ratings for games 3-8. These are the ratings for games 9 to the final:

Barrera 7.33
Sambueza 7.29
González 7.25
Leandro 7.21
Castro 7.21
Scocco 7.20
Verón 7.00
Moreno 6.73
Velarde 6.73
Espinoza 6.62
Bernal 6.50
Chiapas 6.50
Solari 6.33
Iñiguez 6.14
Patiño 6.00
Bonnels 6.00
Diego 5.50
Palencia 5.33

Barrera only really established himself in the team as the season progressed, and Sambueza missed quite a few games through injury, while González only played one or two matches towards the end. Therefore my player of the season is Leandro Augusto, only just sneaking it from Israel Castro, who while incredibly influential, also made some terrible errors that cost goals (Bravo v Chivas; Nkong v Atlante).

Next Up
It appears that Pumas will take a young team to the Interliga in Texas in January, with the team being managed by assistant Guillermo Vázquez. They will have to do without Héctor Moreno who has been bought by AZ Alkmaar of Holland. Fernando Morales returns from his loan spell with Necaxa, and Efrain Juárez returns from his spell with Barcelona.

Pumas will be without Scocco, Solari, Leandro, Castro, Barrera, Bernal, Sambueza, Verón, Velarde and Fernando Espinoza, but there will be some experience with Paco Palencia, Ismael Iñiguez and Carlos Humberto González, plus some promising youngsters from the Cantera.

Final 2nd Leg: Atlante 2 - 1 Pumas (agg 2-1)

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On an intense and emotional night in Cancún, Quintana Roo Atlante were crowned champions of Mexico for only the third time in their history. Despite a solid performance from the Pumas of the UNAM the old failings in front of goal appeared and two well-taken goals by Atlante were sufficient to win the title.

Atlante had started with a more attacking line-up including both Pereyra and Toledo, while midfield scrapper Zamora was suspended. Pumas began with the same team that had dominated the 1st leg in Mexico City. Interestingly both coaches, "El Profe" Cruz and Pumas' "El Tuca" Ferretti had previously won the title with their respective clubs as players. The referee Armando Archundia was in charge of his 11th final match in Mexico.

The game started at a good pace, with Solari and Pereyra looking lively in their respective forward positions. Toledo too was looking to get into the action early against his old club and he had a long shot that flew wide. After about five minutes, though, Pumas started to gain the ascendancy and establish a rhythm that was to last throughout the first half.

Castro and particularly Leandro were dominating the midfield area, and with only one ball-winner in the middle Atlante found it hard to win or hold the ball. Pumas on the other hand were able to build from ample possession and they looked dangerous despite this period being scrappy as both teams committed their fair share of fouls. Espinoza and Barrera worked an opening down the right in the 6th minute but the final cross was just too close to Vilar, while Scocco had an excellent run into the penalty area, but was dispossessed by an excellent Mustafá tackle as he made to shoot.

In a similar play Scocco surged into the area again in the 12th minute, but was again unable to get in a shot. But this time it was clear that he had been unfairly impeded by Mustafá, first with a tug of the shirt and then by a foul. The action took place quickly but the sluggish Archundia did not manage to get into position to award what should have been a penalty.

Finally after 20 mintes Atlante started to claw their way into the game with a couple of long range efforts from "El Hobbit" Bermúdez, and a couple of dangerous moments inside the Pumas area that were smothered by the defence. But Pumas did not fall back and defend and they pushed forward with Barrera whose running was testing Ovalle but whose crossing lacked precision.

After 29 minutes Scocco again picked up the ball in the middle and drove at the defence. His shot was badly miss-hit but it fell nicely for Solari inside the area who dragged it back only to have his shot well saved by Vilar who had narrowed the angle well. Then four minutes later another chance went begging as a neat one-two between Leandro and Sambueza found the Brazilian in space in the area but again Vilar was able to save, this time with his legs.

Atlante had to change something and Alcántar came on for Castillo to give more fight to the midfield, but Pumas still continued to dominate and Scocco and Barrera worked a cross for Solari with Vilar out of his goal. However "El Tano" could not quite reach the inviting centre with the net beckoning. The "Potros Caribeños" (Caribbean Colts) did create a couple of chances of their own in the last five minutes of the half. A long Toledo cross found Maldonado who knocked back into the area where a clash of heads between "El Hechizero" Verón and "El Místico" Pereyra saw the ball fall invitingly free in the box; unfortunately for Atlante there was no-one there to finish. Then Bernal had to be sharp to deny Maldonado after a deflection fell to him in the area.

Pumas had dominated as in CU but had failed to take their chances, and Atlante were starting to look more solid. Mustafá had been excellent, and Carevic was solid at the back for Atlante, but Sambueza, with amazing work-rate, and Leandro had been outstanding for the university.

Arturo Muñoz came out for Guerrero at the start of the second half, while Pumas kept the same line-up but Sambueza and Barrera switched wings to look for further opportunities, possibly for Sambueza to cut inside and shoot with his favoured left foot. The first few minutes of the half were scrappy with Archundia being fooled by a couple of soft free-kicks from both sides, and Pumas giving Atlante a couple of chances to shoot from the area just outside the penalty box.

When Barrera and Sambueza switched back after 55 minutes they had achieved little and Ovalle defended well against both of them from left-back. Pumas were starting to look shorter on ideas and Atlante pressured the ball a little more.

Then all of a sudden Atlante were in the lead. "El Chícharo" González picked up the ball in midfield and the Pumas defence mistakenly tried to play the offside trap on Pereyra, with Verón rushing to meet González and Moreno pushing up fast. But Maldonado timed his run from deep and had no trouble taking the nicely weighted pass from "El Chícharo". He then easily rounded Bernal who had madly rushed way out of his area, taking it past an off-balance Espinoza and running the ball into the empty net. It was just the sort of sucker punch that Atlante are capable of but a bitter pill to swallow for Pumas having dominated the first two-and-a-half hours of the tie.

Atlante looked more sprightly after the goal, but Pumas stuck to the task, and almost levelled with a Moreno header that just clipped the top of the bar. Nonetheless the measured football which had been the UNAM trademark gave way to a tendency to rush things, and Castro was booked for a clumsy tackle on Pereyra, who inevitably made a meal of it. As the final quarter approached, Nkong replaced an injured Toledo, while Sambueza, who had given his all, gave way to the fresh legs of Iñiguez.

Within two minutes this second substitution paid dividends, in one of Pumas' best moves of the match. A 68th minute free-kick was quickly taken by Leandro, and receiving it back from Barrera he floated in a lovely cross to Solari whose header hit the base of the post. Iñiguez, fresh and alert, was first to the rebound and headed in for the equaliser.

Minutes later Mustafá should have gone into the book as a nasty elbow caught Solari on the side of the head, and he came off to be cleaned up. Then Pereyra was booked for what turned out to be a significant foul, as he came in studs up on Leandro. While "El Tano" came back on Leandro was unable to continue, and although Jehu Chiapas put in a lot of effort, Pumas' shape and confidence disintegrated. Atlante's attacks became stronger and more insistent and Verón had to be alert to clear a Peryera header, while Atlante should have had a penalty after Espinoza bungled a challenge on Bermúdez. But "El Hobbit" made too much of it and not only did Archundia not award the penalty, he cautioned the diminuitive midfielder into the bargain.

Pumas were looking tired and disorganised, and Nkong got in a shot after good work from Bermúdez, while Verón was booked for a poor challenge on Pereyra, who again got to practice his theatricals. Although Atlante were now on top, with only three minutes to go it looked like extra-time was going to be played. It was then that Atlante grabbed the winner. After a scramble in his own penalty area, Barrera brought the ball clear, but naively pushing the ball out of defence he was crudely blocked. The ball fell to Clemente Ovalle who lashed the ball from 25 yards into the top corner past a poorly positioned Sergio Bernal.

It only remained for Palencia to come on and try and save it by replacing Velarde, but Atlante were able to play out time comfortably and the capacity crowd of 18,000 rejoiced at Atlante's first title since 1992-93. Pumas were probably the best team in the Liguilla, but Atlante's pragmatic approach paid dividends after a magnificent regular season.

Goals
Maldonado (59 minutes) 1-0
Iñiguez (68) 1-1
Ovalle (87) 2-1

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Moreno (late tackle); Castro (bad tackle); Verón (bad tackle)
Atlante: yellow: González (not sure); Pereyra (studs up tackle); Bermúdez (dive in area)

Player Ratings
Bernal 5 - not his best game and at least partially at fault on the goals
Velarde 7 - solid without creating any attacking threat
Verón 7 - good except when at fault for the first goal
Moreno 7 - similar to Verón, possibly more to blame for the goal as he rushed up to play offside
Espinoza 7 - worked very hard and created some things going forward too
Leandro 9 - excellent display, ball winning, creating chances, didn't deserve to be on the losing side
Castro 8 - another solid display
Solari 7 - worked harder than at any time during his Pumas career
Scocco 7 - looked dangerous and should have had a penalty, but closely watched
Sambueza 8 - worked hard in defence and attack
Barrera 7 - running very good but crossing needs work

Tuca 8 - can't blame the tactics or the selection, and made the right substitutions. Just unlucky things did not go for his team.

Elsewhere in Mexico
Pachuca lost their opening (and final) game in the World Club Championship against Etoile Sportive du Sahel 1-0 with a drab performance ina game they could and should have won. Sahel now advance to play Boca Juniors in the semi-final.

Dorados and Indios de Ciudad Juárez will contest the Primera 'A' final after both drawing their second-leg matches over the weekend. Dates for the final will be decided after a meeting between the teams on Monday.

Next Up
The next competitive action for Pumas will be in the Interliga in the USA in the New Year. The first fixture will be Pumas v Monterrey on 2nd January in the dreadfully named Pizza Hut Park, in Frisco, Texas. Other teams in Pumas' group (Group B) are San Luis and Cruz Azul. Group A consists of América, Atlas, Toluca and Morelia. Two teams will qualify for the Copa Libertadores from this tournament.

Final 1st Leg: Pumas 0 - 0 Atlante

A nil-all draw can often be a drab game lacking in quality, but that was not the case in CU for the first leg of the final as an intriguing encounter set up an interesting second leg in Cancún. Atlante must feel they have a slight advantage playing at home on Sunday, and they avoided conceding a goal despite being dominated by a Pumas team unable to provide the killer touch. Hero of the day was Federico Vilar (photo) Atlante's Argentinian goalkeeper who made three or four excellent saves to keep the scoresheet blank.

Ricardo Ferretti decided to start with the experience of Verón leaving out the unlucky Carlos Humerto González, while "El Profe" Cruz for Atlante slightly surprisingly started with Gabriel Pereyra on the bench. The game began with Atlante pushing forward, maybe hoping to catch Pumas cold as has happened more than once this season, and Maldonado almost got onto the end of something after 2 minutes, but very soon the rhythm had settled to what it would be for the rest of the game.

Atlante, clearly determined not to give too much away in CU and avoid what happened to Santos and Toluca, hung deep in a settled formation. They chose not to overly contest the midfield and Maldonado was often a lonely figure up front, but when Pumas had the ball there was always a cluster of red-and-blue shirts round the ball-carrier. Early on Barrera, Solari, Sambueza and Scocco all received possession but were immediately surrounded by Atlante players who crowded the zone in front of their penalty area.

Despite having most of the ball Pumas only really managed one half-chance in the first 20 minutes, a Castro strike ballooning over after a mini-scramble in the Atlante area. But then the university team were able to get forward more, their control of the midfield, with Castro prominent, allowing Sambueza and Barrera a little more space. Barrera created a chance for Sambueza whose delayed shot was blocked, and then a Sambueza through-ball worked an opening for Solari who fell over instead of shooting.

Pumas were continuing to have the better of play but chances were hard to come by. Ovalle was booked for a late tackle on Barrera, then Scocco had a nice run to the edge of the box but hit his shot straight at Vilar. Meanwhile at the other end Atlante occasionally looked lively when they moved forward and "El Hobbit" Bermúdez and "El Chícharo" González worked a couple of nice moves at the edge of the Pumas area without being able to create a goal-scoring opportunity.

Castro was having an increasing influence in the middle producing neat touches to nudge the team forward, but a couple of nice openings were spoilt by a poor final ball. Nevertheless Zamora was frustrated enough to lunge at Castro and earn a booking that puts him out of the second leg, while Castro fired a Vilar clearance just over after the Argentinian goalkeeper had got himself out of position.

In the last couple of minutes of the half Atlante once again showed well, with Solari having to clear a dangerous ball with a header near his own penalty spot, while Maldonado almost got through Verón on the stroke of half-time. The game had been played mostly in midfield but was of infinitely superior quality to the last time these two teams met back in August.

Neither team made changes for the second half and the pattern remained pretty much the same: Atlante sitting back in numbers and looking for chances on the break; Pumas pushing forward and holding the ball for longer but finding it hard to break down a solid defence. Scocco was coming deeper to shake off his markers and Solari began to look a little isolated, but Sambueza started to find a little space down the left. First he crossed into a dangerous area and Leandro hit the pressured clearance over. Then Solari couldn't quite get to another excellent cross. And finally Scocco headed on to Sambueza deep in the area but the Argentinian winger's diagonal shot went wide of the far post.

Atlante brought on Pereyra for ex-Puma David Toledo but the shape of the game changed little. If anything Atlante sat back more yet broke with more urgency. A nice Barrera run won a free kick which Vilar had to push round the post from Leandro, but there was very little else in the way of goalmouth action.

Then came a curious incident after 69 minutes. Pereyra was clearly edging his way into the game and becoming more influential for Atlante. But for some bizarre reason he decided to throw himself to the ground after lightly brushing Velarde's shoulder. Mauricio Morales rushed to make the booking (although why do referees book players without seeing the incident?) then had to book Leandro too for (as he often does) making his views of the decision known. Finally, either realising he had been duped, or because Pereyra said something too, Morales showed him the yellow card as well. The referee generally had a good game, but this moment was ludicrous.

The battle became tighter in midfield for a while and Atlante created their best chance of the game, Bernal making a save with his feet from Maldonado outside the area. The ball fell to Bermúdez but his shot was tame and easily cleared by Verón.

The last ten minutes were all Pumas, and Scocco finally got into the game. The team from the Pedregal should have had a lead but for the alertness of Vilar in the Atlante goal. A beautiful ball from Scocco to Solari escaped the forward slightly and Vilar was able to close the angle and force him to shoot into the side-netting. Then Nacho hit a drive from 30 yards which Vilar had to save full length and Solari was not far away again after Barrera shook off his marker to get in a shot from the edge of the area.Barrera too had a shot pushed away by Vilar after a Sambueza cross, and the keeper also made a fine save from Scocco when put through by Barrera.

Atlante made a couple of substitutions in the final minutes Guerrero making way for Alcántar, and Nkong coming on for Bermúdez. Mustafá picked up a booking for handball while Moreno was booked for elbowing Vilar (it was actually Solari but the referee got the wrong player). In the end the solid defensive shape of Atlante and some fine saves by Vilar kept the score nil-nil and there is still all to play for in the Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo on Sunday.

Goals
None

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Velarde (allowing Pereyra to lightly brush his shoulder), Leandro (for telling the referee he got that decision wrong), Moreno (for Solari barging Vilar)
Atlante: yellow: Ovalle (late tackle), Zamora (late tackle), Pereyra (either diving or saying something), Muñoz Mustafá (handball)

Player Ratings
Bernal 7 - did nothing much wrong but then did nothing much
Velarde 7 - fed Sambueza well
Verón 8 - gave Maldonado nothing
Moreno 7 - continues to look confident
Espinoza 7 - got forward well on occasions
Leandro 7 - excellent second half but slow to get going
Castro 8 - controlled the midfield
Sambueza 8 - again a danger and great crosses
Barrera 8 - dangerous running but crossing inconsistent
Scocco 8 - shackled for most of the game but showed how dangerous he is
Solari 6 - not able to create space for himself

Tuca 8 - the right starting line-up, right not to bring on subs, and right tactics. Pity about the result.

Elsewhere in Mexico
América were unable to turn round a one-goal deficit playing in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana Final against Arsenal de Sarandí. Although they won 2-1 with a goal from Juan Carlos Silva and an own goal, the trophy went to Arsenal on the away goals rule.

Pachuca begin their challenge for the World Club Championship in Japan playing Tunisian club Etoile Sportive du Sahel on Saturday.

Meanwhile Dorados beat Correcaminos 1-0 in Culiacán in the first leg of the Primera 'A' semi-final. Indios beat top-ranked team León 1-0 in Ciudad Juárez in the other match with a goal from Julio Daniel Frías.

Next Up
Second leg of the final in Cancún at 6pm on Sunday.

SF 2nd Leg: Santos Laguna 4 - 2 Pumas (agg. 4-5)

Video here or here.


In an intense and at times nail-biting second leg in Torreón Pumas scraped through to their first final since 2004, and play Atlante in CU on Thursday and Cancún on Sunday.

The player of the game was undoubtedly Daniel Ludueña, the Argentinian known as "el Hachita", who scored a hat-trick for Santos and whose free kick set up the other for Vuoso.

Pumas started in blue with the same starting line-up as on Thursday in CU, while Santos welcomed back Walter "el lorito" Jiménez into the side. The first few minutes were frantic, the home team desperate to get an early goal and throwing themselves into everything. Pumas found it hard to get into the game and the crowd in Torréon were in ebullient mood, and throwing drinks cups onto the field. Santos had three half chances in the first three minutes, Figueroa heading into Bernal's arms from a first-minute corner, then Vuoso breaking down the left side of the box but shooting wide. There was also an optimistic shout for a penalty as Benítez went down in the area when being pressured by Velarde. And Solari managed to get himself booked for a high-footed lunge on half-way.

By the time five minutes were gone Pumas were starting to edge into the game and despite the fierce pressue Santos were exerting, mount a couple of attacks of their own. Firstly a powerful free-kick from Scocco was just deflected over from Solari's head, and then Pumas scored. An 11th minute corner by Leandro was pushed down by Scocco, and Carlos Humberto González made up for his miss on Thursday by blasting the ball past Becerra from a tight angle to put Pumas one up and four ahead on aggregate.

If Pumas felt at this point they could relax, they were mistaken, and there was an immediate response. Two minutes later Ludueña received the ball just inside the left edge of the Pumas area after a throw-in down the right. With little room to move and tightly marked by Espinoza, he still managed to hit a superb low left-footer across Bernal and into the far corner. There was some discussion that there should not have been a throw-in at all as Moreno was fouled just before, but in any case it made little difference as Santos were back within three.

The game was still frantic, but Pumas were trying to close things down with Velarde in particular working well on Benítez. Pumas were lying very deep and allowing Santos control of the game, and a hard-working Solari was a lonely figure up front for the university team. Castillo the left-back was looking particularly dangerous for Santos, and on one run through the middle he was pulled back by Castro which cost the Pumas number 5 a yellow card. But apart from one Vuoso header into Bernal's arms from a free-kick there was very little goal action and Pumas appeared to have stemmed the flow. They even created a wonderful chance after a fantastic Sambueza cross was met by Solari's head but was directed too close to the keeper who pushed over.

In the last ten minutes of the half, however Santos took complete control. Benítez latched on to a ball from Ludueña and pushed it past Bernal but with insufficient force and it was cleared, then Ludueña scored his second. Vuoso ran well down the right to reach the by-line, fed it to Benítez whose neat turn fed Ludueña five yards out. Again closely marked, a neat swivel and shot put the ball past Bernal. Santos were now well and truly in the game.

Tuca realised the importance of the moment and withdrew Sambueza to reinforce the defence with Verón. Santos were playing at the limit and with intensity, which included the sending-off of their physical trainer, Luis Bongiovanni, who could not control his passions on the sideline. Roberto García did a fantastic job of refereeing the game but his talents were stretched as Santos willingly threw themselves to the ground looking for fouls, while at the same time putting in some dangerous crosses that the Pumas defence struggled to clear. Indeed Castillo was booked for a clear dive in the area and Vuoso immediately afterwards for remonstrating with García about it. Pumas had little control of the game and the only relief, other than the eventual arrival of the half-time whistle, was a great run through the middle by Barrera who was just foiled in the box by Ortiz.

Pumas seemed more composed at the beginning of the second half, but Santos kept fighting. It seemed as if they had reduced the deficit to one within 4 minutes of the restart when a Ludueña shot was blocked by Bernal and the ball fell invitingly to Vuoso. But Moreno pulled off an astonishing tackle under pressure and the danger was cleared.

Nevertheless Pumas were able to keep the ball for longer periods and Santos were having to put in more work. Then on 53 minutes it looked as if the game was all over. A long clearance was nodded on by Solari and Scocco ran through the middle coolly rounding the keeper and slotting it home for Pumas' second to restore the three-goal cushion. Pumas fans finally found their voice while the up-until-then vociferous Santos support went quiet. The game began to be played in the midfield area and the intensity dropped. Needing to change something, coach Daniel Guzmán brought on Peralta and Barrera for Torres and a desperately tired Walter Jiménez. Meanwhile Pablo Barrera was booked for a handball.

Just as it seemed the game was dying with fifteen minutes to go, and Palencia on for Scocco, Ludueña earned a soft free kick on the edge of the area, floated it in to Jorge Barrera who nodded on for Vuoso to power a header past Bernal. Again Santos were in with a chance and the "laguneros" were sparked into life. Pumas were more balanced than during this period in the first half but Santos' intensity created problems, and yet again there was a deal of diving, mostly spotted by the referee, but Vuoso was pardoned for a dive in the box that should have seen him sent off.

With only a minute or so left of normal time the rhythm had dropped and both teams looked tired, but suddenly a rebound in midfield broke to Ludueña who poked the ball expertly past Bernal and Santos were back within a goal. This brought on a furious last minute and four minutes of stoppage time including a scramble in the Pumas area right on the final whistle which a timely Leandro tackle just managed to clear. Pumas had held on, and Santos, the best team in the tournament, were out.

Goals
C.H. González (11 minutes) 0-1
Ludueña (13) 1-1
Ludueña (36) 2-1
Scocco (53) 2-2
Vuoso (75) 3-2
Ludueña (89) 4-2

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Solari (foot-up lunge); Castro (pulling back); Barrera (handball)
Santos: yellow: Castillo (diving); Vuoso (remonstrating with the referee)

Player Ratings
Bernal 7 - not at fault for any of the goals and a couple of important saves
Espinoza 6 - amazingly did well despite Ludueña scoring three
Moreno 8 - the most composed of the back four
González 7 - good goal; continues to impress
Velarde 7 - worked very hard on Benítez
Castro 6 - not his best afternoon, unable to keep possession
Leandro 6 - ok but under a lot of pressure
Sambueza 7 - looked dangerous again
Barrera 7 - his running gave Pumas a much-needed outlet
Solari 7 - worked very hard as the lone striker
Scocco 8 - always looked the most likely to score
Verón 7 - the added calm helped Pumas in the second half
Iñiguez 6 - not bad but with the state of the game had little influence
Palencia 6 - looks like he is slowly coming back but lacks sharpness

Tuca 8 - again substitutions spot on

Elsewhere in Mexico
Atlante scraped through into the final against Pumas, going through as the higher-ranked team after a draw on aggregate and a 1-0 win against Chivas in the Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo in Cancún. An early goal by Giancarlo Maldonado forced Chivas to push forward, but they were unable to find a way through a determined "potros" (colts) defence. Omar Bravo should have had a penalty as his shirt was tugged in the area, but perhaps because of his dive for the penalty in the first leg, Armando Archundia waved play on. Maybe that is justice as it is never good to see players profiting from deceiving the referee. Both sides had their chances during the game, Medina hitting the woodwork for Chivas and Nkong almost scoring with his first touch after coming on as a substitute.

The final game of the championship will therefore take place in Cancún on Sunday, and whatever happens it has been a wonderful first season there for Atlante, playing to full houses and enthusiastic support, while playing exciting and successful football. There are many who find the moving of team "franchises" to different locations a bit odd, particularly those used to football in Europe, but this has undoubtedly been a success.

Finally the quarter finals of Primera 'A' were completed over the weekend, and the semi-finalists are Dorados de Culiacán, León, Correcaminos de Ciudad Victoria and Indios de Ciudad Juárez.

Next Up
The final in CU on Thursday and Cancún on Sunday, at 9pm in CU and at 6pm in Cancún.