The Auriazul goodbye: a disaster with legs
For a change, Pumas‘s game plan was as clear as a tutorial in a language that doesn’t exist. Headless is the kindest euphemism we can use to describe the show (or lack of) that Efraín Juárez’s team put on. Their dream of qualifying for the Liguilla evaporated at the Hidalgo Stadium with a 3-1 defeat against Pachuca. A true night of terror for a fan who, in an act of faith worthy of a Marvel saga, never abandoned them. While the Auriazules pack their bags for an early vacation, Los Tuzos showed that with determination and heart you can get a second chance. Basically, the meme of “this is not an airport, don’t announce its takeoff” applies perfectly to the university offensive.
The chronicle of a death foretold began even before we could finish our popcorn. In the first half, the people of Hidalgo decided that this was a FIFA game in easy mode. Enner Valencia (minute 32) and Kenedy (minute 39) scored two goals that deserve to appear in a YouTube compilation, silencing the visiting team that had come to cheer. Not even Keylor Navas himself, with his legendary saves in the Champions League, could do anything about those shots. It was like trying to stop a TikTok trend with a wish; nothing to do.
When the problem is you (and your lack of ideas)
The UNAM team, instead of reacting, plunged into an existential crisis worthy of a Netflix series. They couldn’t find a way to connect three passes in a row and create danger in Carlos Moreno‘s goal, it was a more complicated mission than deciphering an influencer code. Their attack was so ineffective that they made the rival goal look like a no-fly zone. And if the picture wasn’t dramatic enough, Kenedy decided that one goal was not enough and scored again in the 54th minute. To add more salt to the wound, this time it featured an unsolicited collaboration from Keylor Navas, thus completing the “involuntary own goal” play that no one asked for but we all had to see.
In the end, the game was the perfect representation of when you try to assemble an IKEA piece of furniture without instructions: all the pieces were there, but the end result was an absolute disaster. The fans are left with the same feeling of emptiness that a spoiled season finale leaves. While Pachuca remains in the fight for the title, Pumas is going home to “think about the next tournament,” which is a nice way of saying “to do a deep introspection about what went wrong.” A lesson in humility, or rather, a reminder that in football, sometimes the other team simply has the script written by a better writer.
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