Monterrey 2 - 0 Santos: Fresh air for Rayados
Tecnológico stadium was quite a sight on Saturday. Fans wore white shirts as a silent protest against the violence that the north of Mexico is living daily.
The game did not start with the best rhythm, both teams were hesitating to take the ball, neither team seemed to want to go forward. Little by little, however, the game picked up pace and Monterrey started attacking but Santos didn’t lose control and settled on the pitch looking for counter-attacks.
The first goal came via a corner kick in the 28th minute: De Nigris smashed it into the crossbar but the rebound was still favorable to Rayados, Luis Pérez shot with his right leg from outside the area and sent the ball into the net.
Monterrey had another chance shortly after that but Santos’ keeper cleared the ball.
Then, near the end of the first half, Rayados’ José María Basanta gets red carded for a foul on Peralta and is sent off.
In the second half, Santos looks more decided to attack, but Rayados, didn’t show they were down by one man and instead of falling back trying to defend the lead they had, they never stopped going forward, looking for another goal.
At the 66th minute, De Nigris passed the ball to Delgado who crossed into the box and Suazo scores a nicely headed goal.
Santos’ subs didn’t have much of an impact, after the second goal the team fell in disarray and couldn’t find their way back to the game, wasting a last minute chance smashing the ball into the post.
Great result for Rayados, this will certainly give Vucetich a vote of confidence.
Poor performance from the ref (Genaro Medrano) allowing a lot of fouls, unfairly sending off Basanta and not giving a second yellow to Baloy.
Pachuca 2 - 0 América: Borja brace gives his team the win.
Enjoyable night at Hidalgo stadium, well, at least for the local team. América is without question one of México’s “big teams” but let’s not forget Pachuca has won the title 5 times in recent years and can be a very complicated rival, particularly in their stadium.
Fifteen minutes into the game, Félix Borja found the back of the net, giving an early lead to Pachuca.
For the rest of the first half, América seemed to have control of the ball, but it’s all possession, no finishing. This encourages Pachuca to press and go forward in counter-attacks.
The second half started with América trying to equalize, on the second minute Pachuca’s goalkeeper makes a great save. Carlos Reynoso (América’s coach) takes out Sánchez for Vuoso, and from that moment on América starts to fade.
Add to this the red card Valenzuela got and the team was all but lost.
At the 64th minute, a great cross by Elias Hernandez finds Borja who smashes in his second goal of the night.
Pumas 1 v 2 Cruz Azul: Cruz Azul reaches the top
This is the second defeat in a row for Pumas, who hadn’t lost a game before last week’s match against Puebla. Last Sunday, as locals, they lost to Cruz Azul. Incidentally, this is Cruz Azul’s first away win.
Cruz Azul started the game decided to attack. Both teams had good chances in the first half but it was Cruz Azul who opened the score in the 17th minute (Gerardo Flores).
However, only five minutes later Pumas equalized thanks to Martin Bravo.
In the second half Fuentes was sent off, leaving Pumas with ten men for a good part of the game and Cruz Azul made the most of this advantage and scored a second goal (Adrian Cortés).
Pumas didn’t have 4 starting players available (Cabrera, Cacho, Palacios and Palencia). However, the three players of the U-20 World Cup that were on the pitch had a good game: Orrantia (assisted the goal and had a chance to equalize the score on injury time but his shot hit the post), De Buen (nice shooting from outside the box) and Izazola (a couple of good shots, one that went over the goal and another one saved by Cruz Azul’s keeper).
The future looks bright for Pumas but this week they were on the losing side. Cruz Azul left Estadio Universitario with three points reaching the top of the table. For now.
Other results:
Estudiantes 2 v 1 Pachuca
San Luis 2 v 0 Chivas de Guadalajara
Atlas 0 - 1 Tigres
Atlante 2 - 1 Estudiantes
Tijuana 1 v 1 Querétaro
Morelia 0 v 0 Puebla
Jaguares 1 v 1 Toluca
In transfer related news, Ulises Dávila (Chivas) is now a Chelsea player, although he could go on loan to Vitesse and Taufic Guarch (Estudiantes Tecos) has joined Espanyol B.
Both players had a remarkable performance in the U-20 World Cup.
Written by Gabriella Monti
Follow me on Twitter @gabsci
Both players had a remarkable performance in the U-20 World Cup.
Written by Gabriella Monti
Follow me on Twitter @gabsci
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