Necaxa Vs. Atlas: 0-1 Full Time, Necaxa Cheated Out Of An Equalizer

Atlas have walked away from a road game against Necaxa with another three points, but they will struggle to justify calling them well deserved. They played fairly well and deserved their goal, but the match’s final result was marred by terrible officiating and a decision to deny Necaxa a legitimate 89th minute equalizer.

The Atlas goal came from Alfredo “Chango” Moreno after a bit of a scramble. Flavio Santos created the opportunity with a shot on target, which was saved by Necaxa keeper Oscar Perez. The ball fell to Moreno, though, and he slid a low shot past an off-balance Perez into the back of the net to give Atlas a 1-0 lead.

The disallowed equalizer came in the 89th minute, also off of a scramble. Necaxa forwards Ulises Mendivil and Ismail Iñiguez, both on as substitutes, had an exchange on a counter-attack where they beat the Atlas defenders and goalkeeper Miguel Pinto after a series of touches, leading to a tap-in finish. The linesman flagged for offsides, but upon replay, at no point was any Necaxa player even within a yard of being offsides. They stayed behind the second to last defender or the ball for the entire time, never even coming close to level.

Despite the poor officiating and the fact that Necaxa deserved a point, Wilman Conde continued his great play from the first half and dominated periods of the second half. Atlas was outplayed in the midfield due to Gerardo Espinoza’s absence, and defender Nestor Vidrio’s injury early in the match made life tougher on Conde as well. He rose to the challenge, and was my man of the match.

With this loss, Necaxa have 0 points from three matches and appear to be as good as relegated. Atlas now have taken all 9 points from their three games, and should spend another week on top of Group Two.