Game 9: Pumas 2 - 2 Atlante

Pumas let slip a two-goal lead as the Centenary Party is spoiled in CU.

The centenary celebrations for the UNAM university were dampened somewhat as Pumas threw away a two-goal advantage when controlling the game against Atlante on Sunday. Inexplicably man-of-the-match Martín Bravo (picture) was withdrawn after an hour and two scrappy goals allowed the 'Potros' to draw level.

All seemed set fair as everything was put in place for an afternoon of fun in the Olympic Stadium. Students of the University had half-price tickets, the University Rector, José Narro Robles, was present , and a commemorative shirt was on display. The opposition had also had a poor start to the season, and their only result of note was a narrow win against fellow-strugglers Morelia last week. There was even a spirit of giving in CU as stands outside the ground collected foodstuffs for the victims of the hurricane in Veracruz.

Pumas were forced to make a change on the left as Chiapas was suspended after last week's red card, but more excitingly Bravo was given a chance up the middle with Dante López as Palencia began on the bench. Tellingly, despite comments during the week that he felt like a true Puma, Cacho did not feature at all. Atlante looked to strengthen their left-hand side, bringing in Cardaccio.

Despite the difficulties one or two supporters had getting in to the ground early, on the field Pumas were straight into their stride, with an attacking formation with Cortés and Rojas with a licence to get forward. It left the home team a little exposed in midfield, but they nevertheless began almost immediately to cause problems for the Atlante defence.

In fact the first real chance fell to Oscar Rojas after 5 minutes as he got away down the left and fired in a shot which Muñoz in the Atlante goal was happy to push away. With Pumas trying to push forward there were bound to be spaces and the visitors also crafted an opening, Bernal comfortably stopping an Amione effort. Bravo was playing the best he ever has for Pumas with sharp movement and good ball control. Dante was not always on the same wavelength, but as he tends to do he worked hard and he too created space. The two centre-backs Castillo and Torres were having a tricky time and Pumas finally got the goal their enterprise deserved.

On 22 minutes Leandro spread the ball right to Espinosa who cut inside Cardaccio and curled in a nice cross which Bravo expertly finished with a neat header. There was a slight suspicion the Argentinian may have been half a yard offside, but that did not dampen his celebrations as he knelt and calmly crossed himself.

Atlante bravely fought back and despite their nervousness at the back created a couple of half chances as Navarro shot over and Amione forced Bernal into another save. Bermúdez was starting to create some space for himself in the middle, and the "hobbit" tried a long range effort which flew wide. Nonetheless they almost conceded the second on the break as Bravo and Dante combined, Dante making his way to the bye-line before his ball back just evaded Bravo for the finish.

As the second half began Pumas redoubled their efforts to give the Centenary Celebrations a polish and spaces again began to open up. Only 8 minutes after the restart and Bravo had grabbed his second. Good persistence down the right from Dante, rewarded him with a shot which Muñoz saved with his face. Bravo was alert to pick up the rebound and he rounded Torres and shot low to the keeper's right to put Pumas 2-0 ahead.

Bravo, Dante and Rojas began to enjoy themselves and for a few brief minutes it seemed as thought there was the possibility of a rout. Even Cortés began to appear down the right hand side. It was then that Memo Vázquez made the decision that was to change the game. Quite why the Pumas coach thought that Bravo, who had been comfortably the best man on the pitch, needed to be replaced by the lumbering Palencia remains a mystery as Vázquez refused to comment after the game. What happened was that Palencia began to play much deeper than where Bravo had been, and there was immediately far less threat. The lack of ideas up front began to make itself felt as an uncertainty at the back. And now Leandro and Verón were pushing forward to bolster the confused attack.

Slowly Atlante began inching forward, at first with little conviction, but increasingly with confidence. After Bernal had conceded a corner after a poor clearance header by Palacios, the service by Bermúdez  led to Atlante's first. Another poor clearance by Palacios gave Amione a shooting chance and after that was blocked a series of rebounds saw Fano with the chance to poke the ball past Bernal.

Almost immediately the away team was level.  Amione pushed the ball into the area, but there was no immediate danger as he was headed towards the bye-line. Nevertheless Bernal made a mad rush out and almost threw himself at the player for a cast-iron penalty. There would certainly have been people in the stadium thinking that maybe it is time to give Alejandro Palacios another chance, as this was desperately unworthy of an experienced goalkeeper.. Fanu smashed an excellent penalty into the top corner and that was 2-2.

After that neither side looked like taking all three points, and Atlante looked happy enough with the draw. In the closing stages a number of their players went down injured or with cramp, Amione having to go off after he half-collapsed with no-one near him, and there was some concern for a time that there might be a serious problem. Pumas had few ideas in attack, and it was a mystery that Vázquez believed debutant Quiñones and young Carlos Orrantia were the answer at that stage.

All in all a disappointment for Pumas and a point gained (and the UNAM trophy) for Atlante, who move to 8 points, while Pumas just stay in the top half of the table with 12.

Pumas: Sergio Bernal; Efraín Velarde, Darío Verón, Marco Palacios, Fernando Espinosa; Israel Castro, Leandro Augusto, Óscar Rojas (Kevin Quiñónez, 80); Javier Cortés (Carlos Orrantia, 81), Martín Bravo (Francisco Palencia, 60), Dante López. Manager: Guillermo Vázquez.

Atlante: Moisés Muñoz; Andrés Carevic, Gerardo Castillo, Nicolás Torres (Alex Diego, 59), Fernando Navarro; Guerrero, Jerónimo Amione (Éder Mármol, 80), Adolfo Cardaccio (Arturo Muñoz, 66); Édgar Solís, Christian Bermúdez, Johan Fano. Manager: Eduardo Bacas.

Goals:
Bravo (23rd minute) 1-0
Bravo (53) 2-0
Fano (72) 2-1
Fano (74, pen) 2-2

Cards
Pumas: yellow: Leandro (a tackle, pretty soft card), Espinosa (poorly timed tackle), Castro (tackle), Bernal (the penalty)
Atlante: yellow: Solis, Amione

Pumas Players Ratings

Bernal 5: Some poor punches in the first half, and made a real mess of comiing out when conceding the penalty.
Velarde 6: Did ok, especially when Pumas were on top.
Palacios 5 : His worst game for a while - too many mistakes, and partly at fault for both goals.
Verón 7: As solid as ever.
Espinosa 7: Keeps trying and good cross for the goal. Was unlucky to be booked.
Castro 6: Solid without ever suggesting he was going to control the game.
Leandro 6: Needs to be more influential, but fed the forwards well.
Rojas 7: The best I have seen from him. Unlucky not to score and some good running.
Cortés 5: How many games can he have where he goes missing?
Dante 8: Lots of movement, commitment and effort. Not a goalscorer but combines well with Bravo.
Bravo 9: An excellent performance. Not just the goals, but also pace skill and understanding. Why oh why did Vázquez bring him off?
Palencia 5: Ponderous and played far too deep.
Quiñones & Orrantia: On for too little time to make an impact.

Guillermo Vázquez 5: Picked an exciting lineup to start with, but his substitution of Bravo is the worst error of his time as Pumas manager. It may be that the decision to substitute Bravo was taken before the game or for non-footballing reasons, which clearly makes matters worse!

Elsewhere in Mexico

This week the Mexican Federation in its wisdom decided to take action over the 'scandal' involving the international squad's party at a Monterrey hotel two weeks ago. Deciding that some players (actually the majority of the squad) had broken the rules of the Federation regarding player conduct, they promptly fined all the players involved 50,000 pesos. In addition, purportedly because these players had invited "non-guests" to their hotel rooms, Carlos Vela and Efraín Juárez were banned from international football for 6 months.

Ever since the Federation announced its sanctions, senior players and journalists have been coming forward to criticize the decision.  Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Juan Francisco Palencia and Rafael Márquez were amongst the first to point out that the match was over and the players were essentially on their own time. Additionally the management had apparently agreed to the get-together. The two players banned are young and single and in any case, it was pointed out,  if there was any impropriety it is essentially between them and their conscience. The latest news is that the 13 sanctioned players have all asked not to be selected for the National Team (through a letter written to the Federation by Rafael Márquez). The arguments seem set to continue, but it would be out of character for the Mexican Federation to do a u-turn

Returning to action on the field, Mexican clubs had a tougher time this week in the Concacaf Champions League. The only of the four to win was Monterrey, who hosted Seattle Sounders and with 20 minutes left were two down. Only some excellent play from star substitute Humberto "Chupete" Suazo, who scored one and set up two (including a dubious penalty) allowed the home side to sneak home 3-2.

The other three teams were not so lucky. Cruz Azul managed a tame 0-0 draw at home to Toronto, while the alternative Toluca squad fell 2-1 in Honduras to Olímpia. A late strike by Andrés Mendoza saw Santos lose by the only goal to Columbus Crew in Ohio. All the Mexican teams remain in the top two places and well-placed to qualify.

On Friday night leaders Cruz Azul came upon a determined Necaxa team and lost 2-1 in the Estadio Victoria despite an injury-time headed equaliser by goalkeeper Jesús Corona. Referee Fabricio Morales disallowed the goal for a (non-existant) foul and then gave Corona his second booking after the distraught keeper protested. He now misses the América match.

Neither Monterrey nor Santos could take advantage of Cruz Azul's slip. There was more controversy as Querétaro thought they had grabbed a 1-0 lead over Monterrey when Sergio Ortemán's shot bounced down from the bar on or over the line. With the uncertainty the goal was not given and Monterrey held on for a 0-0 draw. Santos meanwhile lost in a thriller in the Azteca to América. Going ahead early on through a Benítez header, they saw a Matías Vuoso inspired attack pull América 3-1 up before edging back to 3-2 at half time. A more sedate second half saw no more goals and a victory for the 'Águilas'.

Jaguares notched their third victory in a row with a 2-1 home win over San Luis, the winner by Carlos Ochoa. Pachuca finally got a win with a 3-1 result at home to Estudiantes, while Alfredo "El Chango" Moreno returned to goalscoring form as he eased Atlas's relegation worries with the only goal in a 1-0 win over Puebla.

After their Saturday game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch in Monterrey, Tigres and Chivas had another go on Sunday and played out a 1-1 draw. Francisco Acuña opened the scoring for the home side, and Miguel Ponce grabbed the equaliser for Chivas. Finally Toluca continued their good run with a 2-1 win in Morelia. Nestor Calderón taking advantage of a rebound to poke in the winner.

So Cruz Azul remain top of the General Classification and Group 3. Monterrey lead Group 1 from Santos, and Toluca remain ahead of América at the top of Group 2.

Next Up

More Concacaf Champions League games involving Cruz Azul v Arabe Unido of Panama, Monterrey at Saprissa, Toluca in Puerto Rico against the islanders, and Santos hosting Joe Public of Trinidad.

In next week's league games Pumas host Morelia in CU. The two derbies, Cruz Azul v América and Chivas v Atlas catch the eye, and Santos face a tough task against improving Toluca.

Game 8: Estudiantes 2 - 2 Pumas

Highlights 

In an ill-tempered game in Zapopan Pumas and Estudiantes played out a 2-2 draw.

Pumas arrived in Zapopan full of optimism and determination, but left slightly disappointed after Argentinian Mauro Cejas scooped in an 85th minute equaliser to snatch a point. In a noisy Estadio Tres de Marzo Pumas paid the price for sitting on their lead, and for the unfortunate sending-off of goalscorer Jehu Chiapas (picture).

Pumas started the game with Fernando Espinoza at right-back, after Luis Fuentes's dismal showing last week. Similarly Dante López paid the price for his miss against San Luis with a place on the bench. Cacho and Palencia started up front. Meanwhile Estudiantes were playing their first game with new Uruguayan manager Eduardo Acevedo, and Fredy Bareiro replaced Samuel Ochoa in an otherwise unchanged line-up from the team that had beaten Atlante.

In front of a vociferous home support, Estudiantes started slightly the better.  But already Chiapas was showing plenty of intent and he created the first chance when he muscled into the area and looped a header towards goal which Mario Rodriguez was just able to tip onto the bar. A couple of minutes later Jehu was firing a long range effort towards goal, but Rodríguez got comfortably behind it.

At this stage Pumas began to play the ball around with some ease, and the home team struggled for possession. During this fight for the ascendancy after around ten minutes the first niggles began to appear, with fouls going in and shirts being tugged. Estudiantes were probably initially to blame, but Pumas clearly lost their cool and became involved in similar tactics. The rhythm and the ascendancy that they had created was gone, and Palacios found his name in the referee's book for complaining over-vociferously. It has to be said that Paul Delgadillo is a referee who is unable to deal with criticism on the field, and the tall Pumas defender really should have been aware of this.

With this lack of concentration, Estudiantes regained the initiative and then took the lead. After Diego Jiménez missed an opportunity for the home side from a Morales cross and Palencia gathered a yellow for a poor challenge, Jorge Zmogilny picked up a ball in the middle of the field and smashed a looping shot towards Bernal's goal. Poorly positioned and perhaps unsighted the veteran Pumas goalkeeper was unable to keep out a good strike and Estudiantes were one ahead. The impression was that Bernal should have done better but it was an impressive effort from "El ruso"(The Russian, although actually he is Argentinian).

Pumas appeared to wake up after the goal and began to push forward for the equaliser. Estudiantes seemed content to continue with the disruptive tactics that had gained the goal. After a clumsy challenge on Cacho, Daniel Cabral then proceeded to crawl all over the Pumas front man. Incensed, Cacho leapt to his feet and stood with his faces inches from Cabral, whereupon the former Argentinian youth international threw himself to the floor clutching his face, in a clear attempt to get Cacho into trouble. There was no contact and the referee was right on the spot, but you never know what is going to happen in these situations. Fortunately for Pumas, and for footballing sanity, Delgadillo strongly encouraged Cabral to get up and then showed him a yellow card.

Meanwhile the football began to flow end to end. Velarde had a long range shot which went just over and Cejas headed straight at Bernal after a Rafael Medina cross. The edge to the game had not gone however, and Cabral continued to be part of it. It may have been this which influenced Delgadillo in his decision to disallow an own goal by 'Pikolín' Palacios. Under pressure but with no desperate danger Palacios appeared to stumble and poked the ball past his own keeper, but the referee took the view that he had been pushed and the goal did not count.

It proved a turning point as minutes later Pumas were on level terms after a goalkeeping error from Rodríguez. Chiapas, once again involved, fired a speculative shot towards goal from about 30 yards. The shot had no great power but it was dipping and swerving. Nevertheless it was a surprise to everyone that Rodríguez made such a mess of it, as he allowed it to squirm under a weak dive and into the net.

Bernal looked like he was going for a third keeper's mistake as he made a meal of dealing with Morales's shot just before the break, but he somehow kept the ball out with his legs, and Pumas cleared the subsequent corner to go in to the break on level terms.

Memo Vázquez was either going with a pre-game plan, or realised that Palencia and Cacho were not providing much threat, but for whatever reason Martín Bravo appeared for Palencia at the start of the second half. Immediately he had an impact with two determined runs, and for once he was permitted to roam in his favoured central areas. This led almost immediately to Pumas going in front as Leandro threaded a pass down the inside-left channel and Bravo pushed the ball past the keeper at the near post to make it 2-1 to the visitors.

Almost immediately though, Estudiantes were almost back level as Espinoza headed a goal-bound Cabral effort off the line. And soon afterwards, with well over half an hour left to play, Pumas were down to ten. Chiapas has a disconcerting habit of doing something brilliant followed by something awful. And literally seconds after a sublime piece of skill had taken the ball round a defender, he was walking down the tunnel to get changed. It was an incredibly harsh red card, as after a tackle Chiapas inadvertently stepped on the prostrate Jiménez and the referee saw at as a stamp.

The logical move was to shore up the midfield to see out the game and Oscar Rojas came on for Cacho. However Pumas immediately began to put themselves under pressure as they put nine men (or 8 after Castro went off briefly for a nose-bleed after having the ball blasted in his face) behind the ball, and found little way to get the ball forward. In this situation Bravo is hardly the ideal frontman and perhaps Dante would have done better as a target man to hold the ball up. Vázquez went for bringing on midfielder David Cabrera for the largely ineffective Javier Cortés.

Estudiantes were now clearly on top, and despite being slightly anxious, they created a number of chances. Medina saw a shot thud into the bar with Bernal beaten while ex-Puma Rubens Sambueza sent  a header goalwards that Bernal was happy to cling on to. Nevertheless with the home side running out of ideas, Eduardo Acevedo now looked to freshen up his attack with Taufic Guarch coming on for Medina and Samuel Ochoa replacing Bareiro.

As they pushed forward more, Estudiantes left more space at the back and twice Bravo got away. The first time he hesitated and Cabral made a fine tackle to prevent the shot. The second resulted in Elgabry Rangel receiving the second direct red of the night as he tripped the young Argentinian. As the last man it was the right decision.

With just ten minutes left you felt that Pumas might hang on for the victory, but they continued to hang back and wait for the final whistle. With just five minutes of normal time left, they were made to pay. A Verón clearing header was needless directed downwards and struck an Estudiantes player. The ball fell fortuitously to Cejas who controlled and turned beautifully before shooting at goal, where Bernal could only parry into the bottom left-hand corner.

Pumas had a half chance to snatch a win in injury time as Velarde got down the left but Castro couldn't quite get onto his low cross. Nevertheless with one point each, Pumas move up to 11 points, and Estudiantes to 8.

Both teams were slightly upset with the refereeing, with Chiapas and Leaño commenting on it afterwards. Not surprisingly given the fines and bans handed out by the Mexican Federation, both managers were quiet on the issue.

Estudiantes: Rodríguez, Medina (Guarch 77), Jiménez, Leaño, Cabral, Zamogilny, Rangel, Morales, Sambueza (Ramírez 87), Cejas, Bareiro (Ochoa 83). Manager: Eduardo Acevedo

Pumas: Bernal, Espinoza, Palacios, Verón, Velarde, Cortés (Cabrera 69), Castro, Chiapas, Leandro, Cacho (Rojas 56), Palencia (Bravo 46). Manager: Guillermo Vázquez

Goals
Jorge Zamogilny (20th minute) 1-0
Jehu Chiapas (38) 1-1
Martín Bravo (47) 1-2
Mauro Cejas (85) 2-2

Cards
Estudiantes: yellow: Cejas (foul on Palacios), Cabral (foul on Cacho, or maybe faking...), Jiménez (talking back); red: Rangel (trip on Bravo - last man)
Pumas: yellow: Palacios (talking back), Palencia (poor tackle), Cortés (badly timed tackle); red: Chiapas (stepping on Jiménez - more than harsh)

Pumas Players Ratings

Bernal 5: Did ok but should have done better on the first goal.
Espinoza 7: A great improvement on Fuentes. Kept a lid on Sambueza and got forward too.
Palacios 6: Allowed himself to get too riled up and lost concentration.
Verón 7: Had a half decent shout for a penalty when pushed, but also spent too much time complaining.
Velarde 6: A more chirpy display: nice cross in the end that didn't quite come off.
Cortés 5: He is using up his chances. Another poor game.
Castro 6: Better than last week, a steady influence.
Chiapas 7: Involved in a lot of good Pumas play - did not deserve to be sent off, but clearly there will be no appeal.
Leandro 7: The arch-complainer, but amazingly didn't get a card. Some nice touches.
Cacho 6: More involved than usual, but didn't really look like scoring.
Palencia 5: A peripheral figure. Maybe his fatherly influence on the players is no longer enough.
Bravo 7: Lively and a well taken goal, although could maybe have had another had he not hesitated.
Rojas 5: Not much time to show what he can do.
Cabrera 5: Very quiet.

Guillermo Vázquez 7: Made good decisions calling up Espinoza and bringing on Bravo. I am not convinced with Cortés on the right however. Orrantia looked a better option before his bad game in Monterrey.


Elsewhere in Mexico
During the week where Carlos Salcido and Carlos Vela were cited by the British gutter press as having frolicked with 14 prostitutes and a transvestite after the international in Monterrey, there were also some footballing issues. In the Concacaf Champions league on Tuesday, Monterrey eased to a 2-0 win at home to Marathón of Honduras, while Santos conceded a late penalty to draw 2-2 in Guatemala against Municipal. Toluca beat the Puerto Rico Islanders 3-0 at home, while Cruz Azul crushed CD Arabe Unido 6-0, including a first-half hatrick from Javier Orozco. All four Mexican teams are now top of their respective groups.

The 'Gallos Blancos' of Querétaro came down to earth with a bump as they were easily defeated by Cruz Azul, 3-0 in the Estadio Azul. This was the 'Máquina's' fifth win in a row and it keeps them at the top of the general classification. An Othoniel Arce goal was enough to see San Luis continue their winning ways against Pachuca. Ecuadorian "el Chucho" Benítez of Santos continued his fine form at the top of the goal scoring table as he bagged his ninth of the season, scoring the winner in the 2-1 victory over Necaxa.

El "Chupete" Suazo remains hot on Benítez's heels after scoring his eighth of the season in Monterrey's 2-0 win over Atlas. Aldo de Nigris grabbed the other as the 'Regiomontanos' remain the last unbeaten team in the tournament. Chivas reject Carlos Ochoa returned to Guadalajara and put his former team to the sword, scoring all three in Jaguares 3-0 humiliation of the "Rebaño Sagrado". Meanwhile Atlante stopped their slide with a 2-0 home victory against Morelia, Carevic and Fano getting the goals.

In Sunday's big game Toluca took the honours 2-1 against América, who have not won in five years in the capital of the Estado de México. Héctor Mancilla opened the scoring for the home side, Vuoso equalised just after half time, but a Sinha free kick near the end was enough for the "diablos rojos". In the other Sunday game a hatrick from Brazilian Itamar Batista saw Tuca Ferretti's Tigres win 3-1 in Puebla.

After their wins Cruz Azul, Santos and Monterrey remain at the top of the table, while América lose leadership of Group 2 to their rivals Toluca.

Next Up
For those who are still interested in the Concacaf Champions league, Cruz Azul host Toronto on Tuesday, Monterrey play Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, and Toluca travel to face Olimpia on Thursday.

Pumas take on Atlante at home on Sunday. Other games include Cruz Azul travelling to face Necaxa on Friday, Querétaro facing another tough one at home to Monterrey, and an interesting clash in the Azteca on Sunday afternoon when América take on Santos. Pumas Morelos, after an away win against Atlante Neza, host La Piedad in Cuernavaca on Saturday afternoon.

Game 7: Pumas 0 - 1 San Luis

 

See highlights here

After the break for international games Pumas lost their unbeaten record in CU, losing to a first-half penalty from Tressor Moreno.

In an even encounter in the Olympic Stadium the 'gladiadores' (gladiators) of San Luis belied their poor away record to sneak past Pumas in Pedregal on Sunday. A good fifteen minute spell in the first half was enough to earn the points, with neither side showing any particular attacking flair throughout the game.

In the month when the UNAM is celebrating its 100th birthday, the afternoon began with one minute's applause for two Pumas stalwarts who died this week. Firstly Mauricio Peña, a member of the 1980-81 championship winning side and a coach with the youth teams in the 1990s. And secondly journalist, historian, man of letters and lifelong Pumas fan Germán Dehesa.

Pumas began with Dante López and Palencia up front with Cacho left on the bench. San Luis left out Peruvian Wilmer Aguirre due to an injury sustained on international duty. Both teams began with a supposedly solid 4-4-2 formation, but in the early moments Pumas were jittery at the back, with Fuentes nervously clearing to Arroyo in the first minute only for the referee to give a corner. In fact there were to be three San Luis corners early on as Palacios and Fuentes adjusted to the pace of the game.

In between times Dante contrived to miss what was to be the best chance of the game. Jehu Chiapas put in a nice cross from the left to the far post, where Palacios popped up to head across goal. Dante got to the ball first but spooned it onto the crossbar from a couple of yards out.  

Apart from this opportunity neither side was creating much, but after around 20 minutes San Luis finally began to apply a bit of pressure and for the next ten minutes they created havoc down Pumas's left flank where Fuentes continued to be at sea. Correa was able to put through ball after ball for Arroyo and Arce, and Arce forced a save from Bernal from a left-foot volley, while the veteran keeper also produced a magnificent one-handed stop to deny Moreno.

The Pumas centre-backs were drifting too far apart, principally because Fuentes was upfield too much, and finally the space was exploited. Arroyo got in behind Fuentes and the Pumas full-back challenged clumsily in the area. Tressor Moreno thumped the resulting penalty emphatically into the top corner and San Luis were ahead.

The away team tried to keep the pressure on after the goal, but little by little Pumas began to get back into the game. Leandro was playing wide left and he managed to get in a couple of decent crosses although the service to him was poor. Similarly Verón was providing attacking threat by pushing forward from defence at every opportunity. It was these two players that carried most threat, and Leandro hit just over after the ball fell to him on the edge of the area, while Verón headed straight at keeper César Lozano after a long cross from Jehu. The Potosinos keeper also did very well to keep out a Leandro shot on the stroke of halftime after the naturalised Brazilian was put through by López.

Nevertheless Pumas were lucky to get through to the break without conceding again. On the break Medina got away in the inside right channel and Bernal had to be quick to close down the angle.

Guillermo Vázquez clearly believed that the attack needed revitalising and he brought on Martín Bravo for Jehu Chiapas. The young Argentinian started in lively fashion down the left, as Leandro moved to a more central position. Once again it was movement from Verón and Leandro which was causing most difficulties. Palencia and Dante were disappointing and Cortés invisible. It was no surprise when Palencia and Cortés were withdrawn just ten minutes after the break as Cacho and young Oscar Rojas came on.

While the game was opening up in midfield, neither side was able to create clear chances. In the San Luis defence Alcántar, Hernández and Matellán were marking tightly and were well organised so that Pumas found space at a premium. The tone was set for the rest of the game, with Pumas edging forward without much conviction, and San Luis happy to sit back and take any opportunities that might arise on the break.

As it happened there were very few chances either end, with the only one of note falling to the diminuitive Bravo, who was unable to climb high enough to get over a header after a neat flick on from a Rojas corner. The nearest to incident involved Arroyo who managed to get himself booked for kicking at Fuentes and then taken off injured after twisting his ankle stepping on the ball.

Pumas were ultimately unable to get through a well-marshalled defence and so fall to their first defeat at home in this championship. They remain on 10 points, 4th in Group 3 and 9th overall. San Luis also move to 10 points and go 8th on goal difference.

Pumas: Bernal, Fuentes, Palacios, Verón, Velarde, Cortés (Rojas 56), Castro, Chiapas (Bravo 46), Leandro, López, Palencia (Cacho 56). Manager: Guillermo Vázquez

San Luis : Lozano, Alcántar, Hernández, Matellán, Medina (González 68), Ponce, Torres, Correa, Arroyo (Mares 85), Moreno (Maya 79), Arce. Manager: Ignacio Ambríz.

Goals
Tressor Moreno (28th minute, penalty) 0-1

Cards
Pumas: Yellow: Verón (for making a tackle, undeserved)
San Luis: Yellow: Arce (poor tackle), Arroyo (for kick on Fuentes)

Pumas Player Ratings

Bernal 8: Did nothing wrong and made a couple of fine saves, particularly one left-handed from Moreno.
Fuentes 4: Added nothing to the attack and was a liability in defence. Gave away the penalty.
Palacios 7: Did fairly well covering for Fuentes, and Verón when he went forward. Good header across for Dante's chance.
Verón 8: Possibly the best attacker and best defender on his team. A lot of movement going forward.
Velarde 5: Very little attacking flair, and looked out of sorts.
Cortés 5: Was completely anonymous. When he made a run he invariably cut inside into trouble.
Castro 5: Pretty quiet, and his partnership with Chiapas doesn't seem to work.
Chiapas 6: What you get from Chiapas: one or two sublime moments and quite a few errors.
Leandro 7: A lot of movement, but he was wasted on the left wing in the first half. Central to Pumas's best attacking efforts.
López 6: What you see is what you get. Clumsy but willing. One or two nice touches, but should have scored early on when he put Palacios's cross against the bar.
Palencia 5: Lacking in movement and didn't seem fully fit. Distant from most of the action.
Bravo 6: Enthusiastic participation but with very little end product. Worth a try down the middle with López, Cacho and Palencia all off form.
Cacho 5: Poor. Pumas fans gave him a break after his two goals against Puebla, but they may well be on his back again soon on this evidence.
Rojas 6: A promising player but like Chiapas can be mercurial.

Memo Vázquez 6: Has to be applauded for trying to instill a little more attacking flair into the team, and having faith in the young players.

Elsewhere in Mexico
After Mexico's 1-0 win over Colombia in Monterrey on Tuesday (thanks to Elías Hernández of Morelia's last minute goal on his debut), thoughts turned back to the local championship.

The surprise of the weekend was Querétaro's 5-2 thrashing of leaders Santos, Sergio Blanco the key figure with a stylish hatrick. Necaxa salvaged a 1-1 draw at home to Toluca on Friday evening with a quality strike from Obed Rincón two minutes from time. Jaguares hammered Puebla 4-0 in Chiapas with a brace from Carols Ochoa, while Monterrey claimed the Monterrey derby against Tigres with a 1-0 win in the Estadio Universitario, Humberto Suazo grabbing the winner.

Chivas gained a 1-1 draw with Pachuca in the Estadio Hidalgo. Araujo opened the scoring for Chivas and Franco Faustino headed the equaliser in the second half. Cruz Azul continued their good run and moved to the top of the general table with a hard-fought 3-1 victory in Guadalajara against Atlas. Atlas are now bottom of the relegation table. Another club in trouble, Atlante, lost 1-0 in Cancún to Estudiantes in a game where both sides missed a penalty, the winner from Alberto Ramírez coming 5 minutes from time. Finally América gained their first win in 5 years in Morelia, as Guillermo Ochoa in the América goal found his form after a disappointing year. Vuoso and Layún got the goals in a 2-0 victory.

Cruz Azul top the general table from Santos and Monterrey, Cruz Azul heading group 3, Santos group 1 and América group 2.

Next up
Pumas play Estudiantes in Guadalajara on Friday night. Cruz Azul welcome Querétaro after their heroics against Santos, while Sunday's big fixture sees América travel to the Bombonera to take on Toluca.