Interliga 2008: Pumas 1 - 0 Monterrey

See the goal and the adverts.

The Pumas youngsters made a good start to the Interliga in Frisco with a hard fought win against esssentially a first-choice Monterrey team, including "el Chícharo" a new acquisition from champions Atlante, and Jared Borgetti the veteran acquired from Cruz Azul. Pumas welcomed back Fernando Morales from Necaxa and Marco Antonio "Pikolín" Palacios from Veracruz.

"El Tuca" Ferretti obviously had a change of heart, and was there to accompany his young team on a cold night at Pizza Hut Park. There was also a fairly experienced spine to the team, despite so many first team absentees, with Palacios and González in the centre of defence, Chiapas and Diego in the middle and Morales and Iñiguez down the flanks.

Monterrey looked to dominate the early stages but Pumas pressured the midfield well and the "Rayos" were unable to create many clear cut openings. Nevertheless the university team also had problems going forward, with a tame Iñiguez effort all they had to show for the first half hour. Monterrey meanwhile started to cause a few nervous moments with Patiño saving well from "El Cabrito" and a Borgetti header being cleared off the line.

Morales and particularly Iñiguez were causing some problems and the latter nearly opened the scoring near half time but his shot inside the area was blocked.

Pumas pushed up the pace after half time with forward Gastón Caprari to the fore, and Chiapas shot just over after a Caprari cross. Then Caprari put in a lovely cross which Iñiguez stepped over to allow Bonells to prod home for the lead in the 68th minute.

From then on Monterrey huffed and puffed with most of the possession but were able to make little of it, with Solano lucky to stay on after an elbow on Caprari.

The win leaves Pumas level with San Luis at the top of group B.

Pumas: Patiño (A.Palacios), Jaramillo, González, M.Palacios, Rosas (Júarez), Cabrera, DIego, Chiapas, Morales (Bonells), Iñiguez, Caprari

Interliga: other matches
San Luis beat Cruz Azul 1-0 with the inevitable Moreno penalty, due to a shocking refereeing decision, and in a separate incident Miguel Sabah was sent off for protesting about his yellow card.

Toluca and Atlas shared a 0-0 draw in a disjointed game in group A. América meanwhile claimed a 1-0 victory over Monarcas. Argüello got the goal early on, with Ochoa saving a penalty from Romero in the second half.

Next Up
Pumas play San Luis on Saturday evening.