Atletico San Luis climbed into the Play In zone of the Liguilla after defeating an awful Pumas by a 1-0 score. Without giving an incredible performance, San Luis gave enough to dominate over a Pumas side
that never threatened and gave an incredible lackluster performance that now has the team out of the Play In and about to have a failure of an Apertura 2025. Pumas will have to pick things up against another struggling side on Saturday against Leon in another away match while Atletico San Luis will have a key match at home against Necaxa.
The 1st half started with Santiago Lopez taking the place of the injured Jose Juan Macias although Macias had improved enough to be on the bench for the game. Jorge Ruvalcaba would get off a right footed shot from outside the area that would go wide. Ruvalcaba got a good pass into the path of Adalberto Carrasquilla, but his right footed shot went wide. A shot from outside the area from Sebastian Perez Bouquet would go straight to Pumas’ goalkeeper, Keylor Navas but he failed to control the ball. Alvaro Angulo would be able to clear the ball with a header but luckily for Pumas, he was fouled on the play. A cross into the area fro Sebastien Salles-Lamonge would go past everyone and force Navas to make a save with his leg. From outside the area, Perez Bouquet got off a right footed shot that went wide. The first half ended with San Luis being the better team over a Pumas side that had showed nothing at all.
The 2nd half started with surprisingly not changes from either side after such a lackluster 1st half. Jose Caicedo got off a right footed shot that went just wide. A cross into the area was headed from close range by Joao Pedro but Navas made a wonderful save. Another cross into the area was headed by Pedro but once again Navas made a great save. Off a counter, Salles-Lamonge got off a left footed shot that was deflected and then saved by Navas. Pumas subbed out Santiago Lopez and Santiago Trigos for Jose Juan Macias and Pedro Vite. Pumas subbed out Jose Caicedo for Ulises Rivas. Perez Bouquet got off a left footed shot that went past Navas but hit the post. A right footed shot from Ruvalcaba in the area went wide. San Luis subbed out Sebastian Perez Bouquet for Miguel Garcia. A cross into the area was headed by Roman Torres into the post. The ball would fall for Pedro, whose shot was cleared by Angulo into the path of Sebastien Salles-Lamonge, who got off a left footed shot past Navas and into the net to score and give San Luis the deserved 1-0 lead. Pumas subbed out Pablo Bennevndo for Rodrigo Lopez. A cross into the area was badly volleyed by Juan Manuel Sanabria although Pumas defense still cleared it out for a corner kick. Salles-Lamonge got off a right footed shot from outside the area that went wide. San Luis subbed out the injured Juanpe for Daniel Guillen. A dangerous cross was cleared before Macias could get a close range chance. The whistle blew and Atletico San Luis took a deserved victory over a pathetic Pumas side.
Atletico San Luis got a huge victory on Wednesday night. San Luis climbed all the way into the Play In zone in 10th place and lowered Pumas all the way to 12th with the victory. They were by far the better team and dominated without breaking that much of a sweat over a terrible Pumas side. Pumas came from a very good match against Monterrey to give one of the worst, if not the worst, performance of the season. San Luis’ goalkeeper, Andres Sanchez, didn’t have to make a single dangerous save as Pumas created nothing from the offense. With Guillermo Martinez injured and out of the tournament and Macias being injured in the match against Monterrey, the chance was given to Santiago Lopez and he failed badly in every way, being a total non entity. This lies in the heart of the problem for Pumas, that continues year after year, which is the fact that the Youth system that had been key for Pumas all throughout their history, has been terrible for a while. Pumas has no bench as the youth players aren’t making any impact whatsoever and when they have to step up and plug holes, they fail to do so. Pumas will have to travel to Leon in a must win match but with the season coming to an end, it looks like they are out of the post season. Atletico San Luis will return home to face Necaxa in a very important match for them to get to the post season after failing to do so in the Clausura 2025.
