After an atrocious 2010 Clasura campaign that saw them finish rock bottom of the Primera, San Luis now sit at the top of Group 2. A group that features three teams that participated in the Liguilla of the 2010 Clasura: Pachuca, Toluca and Club America. Oh, and the other two teams in Group 2 are Mexico's two worst at the moment, Atlante and Atlas. Let's just blow up this group and start over.
Mexican Primera Review: Toluca, America, Pachuca? San Luis? Screw It, Let’s Abolish Group 2
Pachuca, Toluca, and America continue to simultaneously shoot themselves in their collective feet.
All three of Pachuca, Toluca and America failed to get all three points out of their matches this weekend, and as a result, a team that has won half its games that registered only 14 points in 17 matches last round sits on top of the atrocious Group 2, a group that no one seems to want to win.
Toluca has an excuse, as they played a road match against one of the league’s most talented teams in Monterrey, but the other two have no excuse. Pachuca and America were favored in their fixtures against Morelia and Puebla and both came away from their matches with draws.
We’ll start with San Luis, who played an unsurprisingly wild match at home against Quaretaro. It took only 19 seconds to open the scoring with a brilliant team goal, a goal that set the tone for the rest of the match. It was 90 minutes of up and down play with creativity and individual skill, as well as questionable defending. Venezuelan winger Cesar Gonzalez scored the winner in the 80th minute to give San Luis a 3-2 win that would catapult them to the top of Group 2.
Pachuca and Morelia played later on in the evening with Pachuca putting in a disappointing performance in front of their home crowd. Young midfielder Carlos Peña opened the scoring by scoring a well placed finish for Pachuca on the 11th minute. Sadly for Pachuca, it would be their best opportunity of the night. Morelia’s Miguel Sabah finally awoke from his slumber, scoring the equalizer with a header from about 12 yards out in the 59th minute. He missed an opportunity to get the win for his team, however, as he missed a penalty in the 86th minute.
Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero hauled down Luis Rey in the box on a breakaway, resulting in a penalty for Morelia and a straight red card for Calero. Pachuca had already used all of their substitutes, so outfield player Juan Carlos “Romita” Rojas put on the goalkeeper’s shirt for the penalty. Sabah took his shot with power to Romita’s left and he made a spectacular diving save. It appeared he may have come off his line early, but the referee allowed the save and Pachuca hung on to gain a point.
As dramatic as that match was, the match between Toluca and Monterrey was the exact opposite. Toluca were absolutely bulldozed and didn't look like scoring at any point in the match. All three of their shots came either against the run of play or on set pieces. Absolutely nothing happened for them at any point in the match. Monterrey scored through a header by gigantic midfielder Jesus Zavala off of a Humberto Suazo free kick in the 16th minute. From that point on, Monterrey went into cruise control, apparently keen to the fact that Toluca were lifeless. They added a second goal tin the 81st minute, but it was an own goal and their finishing was hardly clinical during the match. This usually isn't a problem for Monterrey, so it was probably the result of a combination of bad luck and apathy.
The last Group 2 contender to play was Club America, who managed to make a mess of their game against Puebla. Star striker Vicente Vuoso inexplicably didn’t play at all despite being healthy enough to be named to the bench and Vicente Sanchez was absolutely invisible, despite being the guy who technically got the assist on the first goal (his cross was severely deflected and he didn’t have many more positive touches). The man who played in Vuoso’s place, Daniel Marquez, was surprisingly spectacular and will have manager Manuel Lapuente seriously considering a Vuoso-Marquez partnership. The usually creative and dangerous Daniel Montenegro had very little impact on the match, much to the disappointment of the America fans.
For some reason, America’s defense had no answer at all for the aerial threat of 5’9” Puebla striker Gabriel Pereyra who notched his fifth and sixth goals of the season to help his team to a draw. All four of the game’s goals were impressive close-range finishes, with Marquez’s first goal being the most impressive, but the two finishes by Marquez were two of America’s only chances in the entire match as they played an absolutely lifeless second half.
So, how likely is it that San Luis will finish on top of Group 2, securing the third seed in the Liguilla? Looking at their remaining schedule, one would have to include “not very.” Next week’s trip away to Necaxa won’t be easy and the four games after that will be even tougher. They have to play two of their direct rivals, America and Toluca, as well as high flying Cruz Azul and the always dangerous Santos. San Luis will do well to get four points total out of those five matches.
Elsewhere in Mexico, outside of Group 2, the marquee match-up between Cruz Azul and Santos turned out to be anything but with the home side taking a 3-0 win at Estadio Azul thanks to goals from Alejandro Vela, Horacio Cervantes and Chaco Gimenez. Santos supposedly attempted 14 shots in this match, but they will be hard to remember for those who watched the match. Santos never really looked dangerous and Cruz Azul were surprisingly the better side for almost all of the 90 minutes. La Maquina Celeste finally appear to be living up to their “Blue Machine” nickname as they currently sit in a position to take the number one seed in the Liguilla.
Scores
Estudiantes Tecos 2, Atlas 1
Cruz Azul 3, Santos Laguna 0
San Luis 3, Quaretaro 2
Chivas de Guadalajara 1, Necaxa 0
Pachuca 1, Morelia 1
Atlante 1, Tigres 1
Monterrey 2, Toluca 0
Puebla 2, Club America 2
Pumas 1, Jaguares de Chiapas 0
Dud of the Week
As mentioned above, Daniel Montenegro went missing for America this week when his team needed him. Outside of the two crosses that led to goals, neither of which had anything to do with Montenegro, America created next to nothing. A lot of that burden goes on Montenegro who had an uncharacteristically poor performance.
Player of the Week
Martin. Freaking. Bravo.
See More:
