By NAYIB MORAN

Puebla FC and Atlas came into Liga MX Week 5  carrying different realities. Out of all Liga MX’s teams, Puebla went to Estadio Jalisco as the only team in Mexico that had won all of its matches.

While Atlas went into the match with two consecutive losses, and the panorama looked grim since the team didn’t score a single goal but conceded eight.

Last season, Pablo Marini, Puebla’s head coach, was coaching in Mexico’s Second Division, or Ascenso MX. His record cannot compare to Atlas’s head coach Gustavo Matosas, who once coached in Ascenso MX but is one of two coaches to have led a team to back-to-back titles.

Matosas leading Club Leon to back-to-back titles, and the fact that he always pushes his teams to attack are two reasons why he’s one of Mexican football’s most liked coaches.

In a league, where coaches tend to be reserved, especially, when having the lead, Matosas’ philosophy attracts. On Saturday night, Atlas achieved its second win of the season with a 2-1 win over Puebla, in a night that the team celebrated its 99th birthday. During those 99 years of existence, Atlas has only won the Mexican league once, back in the 1950-51 season.

Puebla came to the match as the favorite, that rarely happens because it’s a club that’s always in relegation troubles. Three home wins against America (4-2), Pumas (3-2), and Toluca (1-0) were the main reasons for the hype around the team. The last time Puebla had accomplished three wins over America, Pumas, and Toluca in the same season was in the Invierno 1996. Coincidentally, those three wins also came at home, as was the case this season.  

Known as Los Camoteros, Puebla’s attack is led by footballers whose careers were in the decline, yet with Marini as the coach, their careers have regained shape. One of those players is Christian ‘Hobbit’ Bermudez, who has three goals, and at the moment is tied with Omar Bravo, Carlos ‘Gullit’ Peña, and Oribe Peralta as the Mexican top-goalscorer in the Apertura.

In the squad is also one of last season’s best goalscorers, Matias Alustiza. Last season, he scored nine goals for Puebla; this season, he has only picked up two goals.

After conceding eight goals in two consecutive games, Matosas decided to take the complicated route, and for the match versus Puebla, he decided to shake up his starting lineup. Four of his starters played their first 90 minutes of the new season: goalkeeper Miguel Angel Fraga, defenders Felipe Baloy, Giovanni Leon, and midfielder Rodolfo Salinas.

If the lineup was compared to last weekend’s, in which Atlas lost, 3-0, to Monterrey, there were seven changes in the lineup. One of the players left out of the starting lineup was Argentinean center back Walter Kannemman, who won the Copa Libertadores with San Lorenzo.

At halftime, Atlas led 2-0, while Puebla’s lack of ideas were evident. To start the second half, Marini took off a defender and gave the spot to winger, Alfonso Tamay. Puebla’s shots on goal increased, but goalkeeper Fraga, dressed as the superhero.

Marini praised Fraga’s game: “I think Fraga had great saves, especially during important moments for us. We couldn’t score due to our mistakes, but also because of the keeper’s great interventions.”

Puebla’s Argentinean head coach declared in the press conference, that he was expecting Matosas to make changes in his line-up. “We knew that Matosas could present a good number of changes. Gustavo is really smart,” Marini said.

Marini also revealed that he felt his team looked tired in the first half, yet Puebla and Rayados are the only two teams in Liga MX that have played four out of the five games. The “tired” description didn’t make much sense.

Patricio Araujo, Puebla’s center back, showed serenity after the team’s first loss, which came in the team’s first game as the visiting side.

“Unfortunately is a first loss, but it shouldn’t affect our self-esteem because we’re doing everything right. Hopefully we can keep up tallying wins,” explained Araujo. “We were down 2-0, but we continued to fight.”

Puebla’s attitude is different. It used to be that if Puebla was down 2-0 or even 2-1, the team would collapse, and the final result would end up being a blow-out, but this season that’s not the case. Against Pumas it was down 1-2 and managed to win 3-2. Against Atlas, it was Puebla that created the very last play of the game, and it almost resulted into the goal that would have meant the 2-2 tie.

Matosas recovered needed confidence after two alarming defeats, but best of all, it finally led Atlas to its first home win. The seven changes in the lineup should create more competition in the team.

Even after the win, Matosas suggested that if the decision had been up to him, he should have also been switched.

“If I could, I would have switched myself. Tonight I wanted to win, and that’s why I put this lineup. I didn’t want to create conflict; I wanted to win.” stated Matosas. After that declaration, he confirmed that he will stay with Atlas until the end of the season.  

Talking Points

– Pedro Caixinha, the head coach of the reigning Liga MX champions, Santos, resigned as the club’s head coach. In an official statement he read to the press on Saturday afternoon, Caixinha declared, “My reasons [for leaving] are not important right now.” One of his main personal goals is to find a coaching job in Europe, let’s see if he lands one in the upcoming months.

– After starting the season with two losses, Club America has registered three consecutive wins, in which it has scored nine goals and conceded zero.

– Monterrey has scored eight goals in its last two games, two of them have been scored by Colombian midfielder, Edwin Cardona. This one is the best of the the two.

– Andre-Pierre Gignac sealed his first hat-trick in Mexico.

– Thirty seven goals were scored in the Apertura’s Jornada 5. The last time this record was set was in the Apertura 2011s Jornada 9.  

Liga MX Results

Veracruz 2-2 Queretaro

Santos 0-2 Club America

Cruz Azul 1-3 Xolos

Tigres 4-1 Chiapas

Morelia 3-4 Leon

Pachuca 1-2 Pumas

Atlas 2-1 Puebla

Dorados 1-4 Monterrey

Toluca 3-1 Chivas