Game 9: Pumas 1 - 0 Morelia

Video here.

On a blustery and cold early afternoon in Pedregal Pumas edged out a poor Morelia side in a game of little action and few chances. Pumas will nevertheless be pleased with the result and have now closed the gap on Pachuca and Toluca in their group.

Tuca continued with the selection from last week, Fernando Espinoza at left-back, Castro dropping back to right-back and Gerardo Espinoza as the ball winner in midfield. At the beginning of the game this looked to be more or less working as Gerardo Espinoza had a nice start to the game and was working hard. But Monarcas showed the early threat in the first ten minutes or so and Bernal had to be alert to cut out a dangerous low cross from the right.

Pumas began to control proceedings, but without a great deal of menace, but Leandro came close as he broke down the left and shot into the side-netting. It was a rare excursion forward from the Brazilian who had been sitting a little too deep, and Monarcas were able to pressure the defence's distribution.

Nevertheless, as in the final against Atlante, Pumas showed how much they miss their midfield talisman, as Leandro was forced to go off failing to recover from a knock on the ankle he took making that shot. After 20 minutes Jehu Chiapas replaced him in midfield, and while doing nothing wrong he lacked the touch and assurance of Leandro, and Gerardo Espinoza was losing out more and more often in the middle.

Morelia won more ball but did not seem to know what to do with it, while Pumas relied heavily on the excellent Sambueza for their main channel of attack, Iñiguez being under-used on the right. Nevertheless Pumas should have had the lead when Solari shot over after being put through by the diminuitive right-winger.

The game became slow and lethargic but neither team made changes at half time and so the dour midfield imprecision continued. It was not until Tuca decided to up the tempo by bringing on veteran striker Paco "el gatillero" Palencia for the rapidly fading Gerardo Espinoza that Pumas suddenly looked a threat. There was more direction going forward, and barely three minutes after his introduction Palencia had given the university the lead. Sambueza floated a dangerous corner over from the left and Paco slipped cleverly away from his marker to nod in at the far post.

Pumas had the chance to make it two as Solari's header was well saved by Muñoz, but more and more they sat back to defend the lead, and Tuca took off Scocco to bring on Carlos Humberto González and switch to 5-3-2. Morelia had more of the ball in the final few minutes and created a couple of chances but Bernal made a good save and the points were safe.

The best finishing of the day, with apologies to Palencia, was nevertheless in the half-time entertainment when a youngster fired beautifully into the top corner from the edge of the box. Esteban Solari must have been wishing for that kind of finishing given his poor performance in front of goal.

So a useful win for Pumas which puts them in sight of a play-off place as they move into the second half of the season, while Morelia have slipped away after a promising start to the tournament.

Goals
Palencia (65 minutes) 1-0

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Palacios
Morelia: yellow: Aldrete, Leao, Cervantes

Player Ratings
Bernal 6 - had barely anything to do but made a couple of decent stops
Castro 6 - looked better when he moved into midfield after Espinoza went off
Palacios 7 - looking assured and comfortable with Verón
Verón 7 - never troubled
F. Espinoza 5 - still looks ill at ease down the left, and Monarcas exposed him a couple of times
G.Espinoza 5 - tried hard but is too easily pushed off the ball to be a ball-winner and he also lacks pace
Leandro 6 - looked good while he was on - Pumas are not the same team without him
Iñiguez 5 - industrious as ever but lacked penetration
Sambueza 8 - comfortably Pumas' best player. Got in a lot of good crosses and was a handful for the defence
Scocco 5 - a couple of half-decent runs but not influential
Solari 4 - a poor game
Chiapas 5 - a promising player not helped by playing a different position every week
Palencia 7 - made all the difference
González - not on for long

Tuca 7 - still not convinced by the starting line-up but made good substitutions at the right times

Elsewhere in Mexico
On Friday night Tecos and Necaxa played out a tedious 1-1 draw in Guadalajara, while on Saturday Pachuca (playing in Mexico City at the Estadio Azul and with entrance free) drew 1-1 with relegation-troubled Veracruz. Sergio Santana defied his critics to score the winner in leaders Chivas 1-0 win over Toluca, and Tigres' recovery under Manuel Lapuente continues as they won 3-2 in Monterrey, in a controversial match where Monterrey had two late goals disallowed.

On Sunday América extended their losing streak to 5, losing out 2-1 to San Luis in the Azteca with Octavio Valdez getting the winner. Puebla twice came from behind in the Estadio Cuauhtémoc to grab a 3-3 draw with Santos. It looked like Santos would take the points as Christian Benítez scored on 90 minutes, but Alvaro González headed the equalizer threeminutes into injury time. Atlante's poor stretch continues as they went their fifth game without a win losing 3-2 at home to a confident Cruz Azul. Meanwhile Jaguares took advantage of a controversial penalty award, converted by Bautista, and the early sending off of Achucarro to earn a 2-0 win over Atlas in Tuxtla.

Despite losing to Chivas, Toluca still head group 1 on 14 points, with Pachuca and Pumas on 13. Santos top group 2 from Atlas, while Chivas remain top of the overall table and ahead of San Luis in group 3. In the relegation fight Veracruz are bottom with 100 points from 94 games, 8 behind Tigres and 9 behind Tecos. Second-bottom team Puebla have 28 points from 26 games. Monterrey's Humberto Suazo and Chivas' Omar Bravo share the lead in the top goalscorers' chart with 6 apiece.

Next Up
Pumas take on Atlas in Guadalajara.