Pachuca completely dominated a terrible Pumas side in their Apertura 2026 debut by a 3-o score. Pachuca was overly superior even when they were the visiting team against Pumas. New Pumas’ Coach Esteban Solari would start his tenure at Pumas with an awful loss against the team he just left to take on this new job. Pumas will now have a short time to bounce back as they travel to face Toluca on Tuesday, whose match was moved so they can play in the Campeon de Campeones against Cruz Azul during the next
weekend. Pachuca will go home to face off against Queretaro.
The 1st half started with both teams coming out with close to their best available. Stanley Garcia got off a right footed shot that went wide. Off a corner kick, the ball was crossed and Robert Morales got off a header that was deflected wide. Off a counter, a 3 vs 2 ended with Salomon Rondon getting off a right footed shot from outside the area that was brilliantly saved by Pumas’ goalkeeper, Keylor Navas. After a bad giveaway by Nathan, a counter attack from Elias Montiel ended with him getting off a great right footed shot that went past Navas and into the net to give Pachuca the 1-0 lead. It was a terrible mistake by Pumas and Montiel took advantage with a great goal. A cross into the area from Sebastian Cordova would be headed by Morales but it would be just out of reach of Juninho. A right footed shot from outside the area by Garcia was well saved by Pachuca’s goalkeper, Carlos Moreno. Francisco Venegas got off a great left footed shot from outside the area that was deflected by Navas and hit the post. A good cross into the area by Oussama Idrissi would be headed by Salomon Rondon past Navas and into the net to score and increased the lead to 2-0. It was another deserved goal as Pachuca was clearly the better team. Rodolfo Pizarro got off a right footed shot in the area that was well saved by Navas. After Alvaro Angulo got the ball in the area, he lobbed the ball and it looked like Christian Rivera handled the ball which led to the referee giving a Penalty Kick. After going to VAR, the ref ruled that it had hit Rivera’s face first and the PK was called off. The halftime whistle blew and Pachuca took a very deserved lead to the dressing room against a very poor Pumas.
The 2nd half started with Pumas subbing out Stanley Garcia and Santiago Trigos for Alan Medina and Victor Arteaga. Kenedy would get off a left footed shot that would go wide. Angulo would get off a left footed shot that was deflected wide. Pumas subbed out Sebastian Cordova for Guillermo Martinez. Pachuca subbed out Kenedy and Rodolfo Pizarro for Alexei Dominguez and Nicolas Vallejo. A cross into the area was just out of reach of Martinez. Pumas subbed out Alvaro Angulo for Cristian Calderon. A cross into the area was headed by Salomon Rondon past Navas but the goal was ruled to be offside. Yet after going to VAR, the offside was reversed and Pachuca had the 3-0 lead. It was a deserved goal as the score now reflected Pachuca’s control of the match. A counter attack ended with Dominguez getting off a left footed shot that would go wide. Pachuca subbed out Elias Montiel and Alan Mozo for Alan Bautista and Carlos Sanchez. Pumas tried to go for a goal but they were out of clues and never threatened to score. Pachuca subbed out Francisco Venegas for Mauricio Isaias. The match would end with Pachuca getting a dominating result as Pumas’ fan loudly booed after a horrific performance.
After only losing the Liga MX 2nd leg final at home against Cruz Azul, Pumas will get early their first home loss in the Apertura 2026. It was a terrible performance, easily the worst at home in 2026. Solari had a nightmare start to his tenure, made even worse when he was red carded after the match. Pachuca was the superior side from the start and looked to be in regular season fitness while Pumas looked like they were starting the pre season. The performance also came a week after they lost their final Pre season friendly at home against America de Cali by a 1-0 score. It was also a terrible performance and things look bleak for a Pumas team that looked to have been extremely hurt by them losing the Clausura 2026 final and looked depressed out there. Pachuca not only had their revenge on Pumas for eliminating them in the Semifinals of the Clausura 2026 but also their revenge on Solari for leaving the team to take the job at Pumas. They were superior from the first minute and had great rhythm to their start of the Apertura 2026. They should be heavy favorites in their first home match against Queretaro on Sunday. Meanwhile Pumas will almost certainly lose on Tuesday when they face off against a Toluca side that had a great away win on Saturday against Chivas and will travel to face off against Cruz Azul for the Campeon de Campeones match.
