Pumas rides momentum into Honduras

March 9, 2010

Pumas UNAM is hoping to take its recent offensive explosion with them to Honduras Wednesday, when the Mexican powerhouse will meet Marathon in the opening game of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series.

After some early scoring woes, Pumas has exploded for seven goals in the last two matches – blowout wins against Pachuca and Puebla. That’s as many goals as the squad scored in the opening six games of the Mexican Clausura.

On Sunday at Estadio Olimpico Univeritario, Pumas tallied four unanswered goals, including a pair by Argentine Martin Bravo and Jehu Chiapas in a four-minute span in the second half, after Puebla took an early lead on a third-minute goal by Herculez Gomez.

Pumas are second in Group 3 with a 4-4-1 mark, two points behind division-leading Santos.

“I always had faith in our [forwards],” Bravo said. “Although we had [not scored] in previous games, we knew that was coming at some point. The forwards are strong. We are finding goals and the balance in the team I think is the best.”

On Wednesday, Pumas will be without Victor Rosales, who is serving a one-game ban that carries over from the Group Stage. Marathon will miss Glen Mitchell Brown, also suspended for the opening leg.

Pumas is largely unchanged since finishing atop Group D four months ago, while Marathon has undergone numerous changes. Chief among the moves was up top, with manager Manuel Keosseian having left following philosophical differences with management just four days after the Honduran Clausura campaign kicked off.

Nicolas Suazo, cousin of Honduran great David Suazo, returned to the squad he led to a championship in 2005.

Forward Jerry Palacios and left back Mauricio Sabillon are now playing in China, while goalkeeper Juan Obelar transferred to Millonarios in Colombia and defender Mario Beata is still in search of a new club.

Marathon has won only one game in eight to start in the Honduran Clausura, and is sitting in eighth place after a 2-2 draw with Victoria Saturday at Estadio Olimpico Metropollitano. Marathon led 2-0 on goals by Walter Martinez and Carlos Mejia in the opening 34 minutes, only to concede a pair of goals and was reduced to 10 men when defender Marlon Pena, who arrived from Real Espana a month ago, was sent off.

“We do not trust ourselves,” Suazo told La Prensa. “What happens is that we get conditioned to stay with one less man.”
Suazo is hoping his squad, and its supporters, can recover from the disappointing draw quickly.

“Hopefully, they will come to the stadium, they have to support us and that is what counts,” Suazo said. “We are going to represent Honduras and we hope that we have that force to do it well.”

Concacaf

Tags: Argentine, colombia, concacaf champions league, David Suazo, estadio olimpico, game ban, glen mitchell, Glen Mitchell Brown, group stage, herculez gomez, Honduras, Juan, mauricio, mexican clausura, minute goal, minute span, mitchell brown, offensive explosion, olimpi, pachuca, philosophical differences, previous games, Puebla, pumas unam, quarterfinal series, Santos, unanswered goals, victor rosales, Victoria, Walter Martinez

Valencia ride luck to down troubled Malaga

November 2, 2009

Valencia reclaimed fourth spot from Real Mallorca thanks to a fortunate 1-0 win over bottom side Malaga on Sunday with defender David Navarro’s first goal of the season clinching the points.

Centre-back Navarro jumped highest at the back post to head in a Pablo Hernandez cross for the winning goal on 68 minutes as Valencia moved a point behind third-placed Sevilla.

“No games are easy and this one against Malaga certainly wasn’t,” said Valencia coach Unai Emery. “It was a tough game in which we had our chances but so did Malaga and we needed a big save from Cesar (Sanchez) towards the end.”

Malaga continue to prop up the table having not won since the opening day of the season when they thrashed Atletico Madrid 3-0.

David Villa, the league’s joint top-scorer with seven goals, almost scored for Valencia in the third minute when his cross crashed against the post to safety.

Juan Mata then had a goal ruled out for offside and Pablo Hernandez went agonisingly close with a drive as Malaga were over-run.

Albert Luque had the hosts’ best first half chance sliding in at the back post but could not get a foot on the devilish cross.

Villa went close with a lobbed effort in the second half but the goal was to come from a surprising source as Navarro capitalised on some slack defending to head home.

Malaga spurned several chances to equalise with Valencia goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez in fine form.

Real Mallorca are a point behind Valencia after maintaining their 100 percent home record with a 1-0 win over Racing Santander on Sunday.

Cameroon striker Pierre Webo scored the decisive goal to make it a perfect five wins for Mallorca at their fortress-like Ono Stadium.

Deportivo La Coruna can move above Mallorca and join Valencia on 18 points with a home win over Sporting Gijon later on Sunday.

Earlier Villarreal powered out of the bottom three thrashing promoted Tenerife at El Madrigal where three of the hosts’ five unanswered goals came in a magical six-minute spell.

“We won 5-0 but it was far from easy and in fact Tenerife were the most difficult team we have faced,” said Villarreal coach Ernesto Valverde.

“The big difference was that on this occasion our strikers were clinical and killed off the game especially at the start of the second half.”

An action-packed start to the second half saw veteran French midfielder Robert Pires put Villarreal 2-0 up 60 seconds after the break before Giuseppe Rossi (51 min) and Jose Llorente (52) put hapless Tenerife to the sword.

Llorente had opened the scoring after 14 minutes and Ruben Cani ended the goal-scoring rout in the 88th minute.

After going seven games without a win Villarreal have now recorded successive victories and move up five places to 13th in the table.

Villarreal’s win sees Atletico Madrid, who face Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday, fall into the bottom three with just one win from nine games.

Tenerife hover just above the relegation zone after failing to collect a point on their travels.

MADRID (AFP)