Pachuca dispatched Pumas by a 3-1 score in the Play In to play in the 2nd Play in for a place in the Liguilla. Pachuca was overly superior to a terrible Pumas side and did so even when it was the debut of new Coach Esteban Solari after the team fired Jaime Lozano after the end of the regular season. Pachuca will now travel north to face off against FC Juarez with the winner going to take the final spot in the Liguilla. Meanwhile Pumas will have to prepare themselves after a failure of the Apertura
2025 season as they will now be 15 years without winning the Liga MX title.
The 1st half stared with Goalkeeper Keylor Navas making a start for Pumas even after he had played a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday with Costa Rica. From outside the area, Oussama Idrissi got off a right footed shot that went wide. Pachuca had taken control of the match as they pushed Pumas to defend and hope for a counter. A left footed shot from outside the area from Kenedy forced Navas to make a save. From outside the area, Alan Medina got off a right footed shot that forced Pachuca’s goalkeeper, Carlos Moreno to make a save as the rebound would be cleared by Pachuca’s defense. Pachuca answered back with Pedro Pedraza getting off a right footed shot from outside the area that forced Navas to make another good save. Idrissi got past a defender but his shot in the area went well wide. From outside the area, Enner Valencia would get off a great right footed shot that went past Navas and into the net to give Pachuca the 1-0 lead. It was a well struck ball that went past Navas and gave the home side the deserved lead. Jorge Ruvalcaba got off a right footed shot that was easily saved by Moreno. From outside the area, Kenedy got off a rocket off a left foot shot that went past Navas, hit the post and went in for the goal that gave Pachuca the 2-0 lead. Although it looked like a great shot, replays showed that Navas should have done better with the shot. A cross into the area from Alvaro Angulo would turn into a shot that was saved by Moreno. The halftime whistle blew as Pachuca had a very deserved two goal lead over a Pumas team that were being dominated.
The 2nd half started with Pumas subbing out Santiago Lopez and Pablo Monroy for Pedro Vite and Angel Rico. A cross into the area from Alfonso Aceves would get to Valencia, who whiffed on the shot from close range, missing a great chance for Pachuca. Pablo Bennevendo would get off a left footed shot in the area that he would send into the stands. Off a counter, Valencia tried to get on a 1 vs 1 but injured himself. Still in that play, Pachuca was able to win the ball and it would end with Kenedy getting into the area and getting off a left footed shot that Navas would block but the ball would go thru him and into the net to score and give Pachuca the 3-0 lead. It was another mistake by Navas but the biggest mistake was from Pumas’ defense in not being able to clear the ball even when Valencia had injured himself in the play and would end up giving a chance to Pachuca that would end with another goal. Pachuca subbed out the injured Enner Valencia and Kenedy for Jhonder Cadiz and Alexei Dominguez. Off a corner kick, Eduardo Bauermann would get off a header from close range that would go just wide. Pumas subbed out Alan Medina for Santiago Trigos. Off a corner kick, the cross into the area was headed back to Pedro Vite, who got to the ball, controlled it and got off a right footed shot past Moreno to score and place the score at 3-1. Off a counter, Cadiz got into the area and got past a defender but Navas took the ball off his feet. Pachuca subbed out Oussama Idrissi and Luis Quinoñes for Ari Contreras and Israel Luna. After getting the ball in the area, Ruvalcaba got off a right footed shot that went just wide. Pumas subbed out Rodrigo Lopez and Jose Caicedo for Stanley Garcia and Emiliano Villaseñor. Off a counter, Luna would get into the area and get off a shot that went thru Navas arms and into the net but the goal was called off for offside, saving Pumas’ goalkeeper from another mistake. Pachuca subbed out Alan Bautista for William Carvalho. There were no more chances as Pachuca clinched the spot for the final Play In Match while Pumas ended their incredibly disappointing 2025 Apertura.
Pachuca overcame the turmoil of the unusual situation of changing coaches in the time between the end of the regular season and the start of the post season by getting a convincing win. Pachuca was the better side and easily dispatched Pumas although they did suffer the injury to Enner Valencia, which will be a problem for their “Do or die” match against FC Juarez on Sunday. Still they were the better side and looked better than FC Juarez did in their Play in Match against Tijuana. On the other hand, Pumas’ season came to an end and it was as disappointing as expected. Coach Efrain Juarez added another setback to his time as Liga MX coach as Pumas just faced a number of hurdles they failed to overcome. Pumas will need to improve in every way but management will have to improve in signings, after doing a terrible job doing so to the point they ended with not forwards after Guillermo Martinez and Jose Juan Macias were injured. They will have a lot of time to do so as the season doesn’t start until January 9th. Yet they need to do so as fan’s are livid after Pumas will now go to 15 years without a Liga MX title or a title of any kind.
