Pumas surprised fans by getting a tie 1-1 against current Liga MX champions Toluca. Toluca was easily favored to get the victory against a Pumas side who haven’t been consistent in a while although they were improving after a bad start to the Apertura 2025. Toluca will now travel to the United States to face off in the Quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup against Orlando while Pumas will return home to hosts struggling Puebla.
The 1st half started with Pumas coming out with their best possible 11 while
Toluca had the surprise that Alexis Vega wasn’t going to play as he was going to be rested for their midweek Leagues Cup clash. Less than a minute into the match, Helinho got into the area and got off a left footed shot that was blocked by Pumas’ goalkeeper Keylor Navas. A cross into the area from Helinho was just out of reach of two Toluca attackers. Offa counter, Adalberto Carrasquilla went into the area but lost the ball. It went into the path of Pedro Vite, whose right footed shot was saved by Toluca’s goalkeeper, Luis Garcia. A great combination play from Pumas ended with Ruben Duarte getting a cross into the area where Jorge Ruvalcaba would get to it and then get orr a right footed shot past Garcia to score and gives Pumas the 1-0 lead. It was a great play in which Pumas made a surprising early strike to take the lead. A cross into the area was volleyed by Paulinho but deflected wide. Another good combination play ended with Guillermo Martinez getting off a right footed shot from close range wide but it would have been offside had he scored. Diego Barbosa got off a right footed shot that went wide. A cross from Martinez was deflected just wide, barely missing an own goal.After getting the ball in the area, Jesus Ricardo Angulo got off a right footed shot that went just wide. A left footed shot from outside the area from Angulo would go wide. After a sliding tackle by Jose Caicedo, he would take the ball from Helinho but injure himself in the process. Caicedo would have to be subbed out with Pablo Monroy taking his place. A cross into the area was just missed by Paulinho. A cross into the area was headed wide by a wide open Jesus Gallardo. A low cross into the area was missed by both Pablo Bennevendo and Monroy, it what would have been a close range chance. The halftime whistle blew and Pumas took their surprising lead to the dressing room.
The 2nd half started with Toluca subbing out Nicolas Castro for Juan Pablo Dominguez. A low cross from Duarte was volleyed by Martinez but Garcia made a very good save. A cross into the area got dangerously closed to going in after clearing the ball let to it bouncing off the head of Carrasquilla and although fans were against it, the play was correctly stopped when he fell because of the accident. A great opportunity was stopped when Barbosa made a great sliding save from a pass from Vite to a wide open Ruvalcaba. Helinho got off a right footed shot from outside the area that was deflected wide. A great combination play ended with a back heeled pass from Paulinho to Jesus Ricardo Angulo, who got off a left footed shot past Navas to score and tie the match at 1-1. Toluca subbed out Helinho for Hector Herrera. Pumas subbed out Jorge Ruvalcaba for Piero Quispe. After Garcia went out and tried to clear the ball, it would eventually fall to Carrasquilla, who tried to score from the halfway line but Garcia had to time to get to the ball. A cross into the area was volleyed wide by Dominguez. Toluca subbed out Jesus Ricardo Angulo for Oswaldo Virgen. A cross into the area was headed wide by Marcel Ruiz. From outside the area, Herrera got off a great left footed shot that forced Navas to make a brilliant save. Pumas subbed out Adalberto Carrasquilla for Ulises Rivas. Toluca subbed out Marcel Ruiz for Fernando Arce Jr. A left footed shot in the area from Gallardo would go wide. A cross from Dominguez was cleared by Navas, in a close opportunity. It was the last chance as Pumas held on to grab a surprising tie against the current Liga MX champions.
Pumas got a very important result by getting a tie against Toluca. While Toluca came in as the favorite and was the better side, Pumas did well to get the point including taking the lead. Pumas just doesn’t have as good a squad as Toluca and they wilted especially with their lack of bench. The best example of this is how Pumas only made three substitutions instead of the five. Pumas did well in the first half and a lot of the 2nd until they started to sit back as their physical stamina was just not able to handle the Toluca attack. Still they got a great result for a tie that might turn things around for their season, which has improved since their first two matches of the season (both losses). On the other hand Toluca had a fine match although the result wasn’t as expected. Their resting Vega for their mid week match might have been overconfident although a tie isn’t a bad result, especially since they had lost against Tigres in their previous home match although they won every other match they played in the Apertura 2025. They will have a tough match in their Quarterfinal matchup against Orlando in the Leagues Cup before returning to Mexico to face a tough away match against Cruz Azul. Pumas will prepare themselves to hosts and be heavily favorite at home against Puebla, who is really struggling and just fired their head coach.