Game 6: Pumas 4 - 1 Jaguares

Video here.

It is really hard to know what to say about Pumas' performance against Jaguares in CU this Sunday. Have the team suddenly improved or were Jaguares just awful?

It was indeed a much improved Pumas performance with Ismael Iñiguez to the fore, and two goals from a lively Esteban Solari, but I have never seen such a woeful defensive display in Mexican football as Jaguares, not even Veracruz when they lost by 8 before Christmas.

Right from the start Pumas were on top fielding the team that started on Wednesday, but with Sambueza back in place of Chiapas. Moving the ball around with certainty and probing gently for opportunities the university could have been two up within fifteen minutes, Solari putting a good chance wide and Sambueza being denied by an excellent save by Edgar Hernández. Scocco also missed a couple of half chances. Jaguares had no possession to speak of and Castro and Leandro played the ball about at will in the midfield, with "el Bofo" an isolated figure up front for the Chiapas team.

Pumas duly scored after twenty minutes when a regulation corner from Sambueza found Solari unmarked at the back post and he nodded easily past Hernández. The marking for the goal was enough to give René Isidoro García the Chiapas coach nightmares for weeks to come (and incidentally to lose him his job hours after the game), as at least four Jaguares defenders were standing on their own when the ball came over.

The Jaguares manager realised that the team was in trouble and put on Batista, a midfielder, for Sánchez, one of his five defenders. It made little difference as Pumas continued to push the ball about at will. Jaguares did not have a single shot of note in the first 45 minutes, yet it was still only 1-0 at the break as Pumas, not for the first time, failed to make their dominance pay.

Early in the second half, however, they started to put that right. A dreadful clearance by Hernández landed at the feet of Leandro who drove into the box and powered a left-foot shot goalwards. Hernández, trying to make amends, could only push his save into the path of Solari for an easy tap-in. The defence was a shambles as Leandro picked up the ball and there was no cover to stop his advance into the box, nor was anyone anywhere near Solari when he put the ball into the net.

Jaguares tried to push forward realising that there was no other way now they were two down, but all they managed was a slight scramble in the Pumas area after a corner which was eventually grabbed by Bernal. Then some further poor defending let in Pumas for the third. González cleared from the right back position, but as the ball bounced over the head of the central defenders, Iñiguez raced through and lobbed it over the keeper.

Solari was obviously excited about the sort of space he was getting, which allows him to make up for his lack of pace, and he was able to slip the ball through to Scocco on the edge of the area on 71 minutes. The young Argentinian then placed a delightful chip over Hernández to make it four.

At that point you really felt Pumas should go on to score a couple more, but perhaps understandably they took their foot off the pedal to coast towards the final whistle. Jehu Chiapas came on for Sambueza, striker Rodrigo Briones came on for Scocco and failed to cap his debut with a goal after a couple of half-chances. And then old favourite "Pikolín" Palacios made his first league appearance since his return from Veracruz.

All this allowed Jaguares one or two incursions into the Pumas half and a speculative shot from Juan Pablo García somehow found its way into the net after a big deflection to give the half dozen or so Jaguares supporters in the stadium something to shout about.

Pumas then climb to within one win of a qualifying spot on 7 points level with Puebla and Tecos. As last season I feel that the rivals for qualification are going to be Toluca and Pachuca, I see little threat from the others with Puebla battling relegation and Tecos and Jaguares poor teams. The team from Chiapas now lie at the bottom of group one.

Goals
Solari (20 minutes) 1-0
Solari (47) 2-0
Iñiguez (59) 3-0
Scocco (71) 4-0
García (87) 4-1

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Solari (lunge - a bit harsh), Espinoza (bad tackle)
Jaguares: yellow: Bautista (presumably for being annoying), Gutierrez (trip)

Player Ratings
Bernal 7 - made a couple of good saves in the second half but never really under pressure
Espinoza 7 - no real defensive duties necessary but worked well with Iñiguez
Velarde 6 - lacked real spark but carried the ball forward ok
Verón 6 - sound but what did he have to do?
González 6 - turned into a great ball for Iñiguez on the 3rd goal. Solid.
Castro 7 - there was no real competition in midfield
Leandro 7 - played further forward this game, good stuff
Iñiguez 8 - the best I have seen him play for a long time, caused havoc with their defence (if that's what you can call it)
Solari 7 - two good goals but could have had four
Scocco 6 - quiet but an excellent goal late on
Sambueza 7 - starting to get into it this season, I don't see many openings for Fernando Morales
Chiapas 6 - always does a good job if unspectacular
Briones 5 - but seems to me to offer more than Bonells
Palacios - only on to give him a minute's run out

Tuca 8 - I will err on the side of congratulating Tuca for masterminding a deserved victory. Looked happy for once.

Elsewhere in Mexico
There were no games on Friday night this week because of the midweek matches, so Cruz Azul opened up on Saturday afternoon, defeating Veracruz 1-0 while missing a hatful of chances. San Luis came from behind after conceding a "gol olímpico" (goal direct from a corner) to Pachuca's Christian Giménez, and won 2-1 with Alfredo Moreno getting the winner. Humberto Suazo continued his good run as he got the winner in Monterrey's 1-0 win at Morelia.

New manager Manuel Lapuente got a good reaction from his Tigres team who managed a 0-0 draw against runaway leaders Chivas, for whom "el Pato" Araujo was sent off. América continue their poor run losing at Atlas to an early goal from Mendivil, while Toluca moved up to second in the overall table with a 2-1 away win at Necaxa.

In Sunday's game a fine Ludueña effort got Santos on their way to a 3-0 win over ten-man Atlante, for whom Pereyra was sent off for use of the elbow. In the final game Tecos overcame Puebla 3-2 in a frantic finish. With ten minutes to go Puebla were leading from an Olivera penalty, but three goals in six minutes put Tecos ahead, and Olivera's second came too late to save the game.

Toluca lead group one from Pachuca, Santos and Monterrey have both climbed above Atlante and América in group 2, while Chivas still lead group 3 with San Luis in the second qualifying spot.

In th relegation battle Puebla are now bottom with 24 points from 23 games, Veracruz just above them (96 from 91) and then Tigres (101 from 91). It seems to be between these three as the next club Tecos has a seven point cushion on Tigres.

Next Up
Without Velarde and Barrera who are on Olympic Qualifying duty, Pumas entertain Necaxa in CU on Sunday.