I've seen Pachuca play three times now and they've never lost. Beat Pumas 1-0 in the Liguilla in 2006, then Chivas 1-0 in 2007 Clausura, now TFC on penalties.
It was an interesting game. For once the home team had more fans than the visitors, although the visitors were in full voice. We had a knot of lads sitting near us in green, red and white and they were in full voice, delightfully quick and self-deprecating. True charmers as Mexicans are. An interesting contrast to the blunderbuss humour of the increasingly-drunk Canadians who they bested time and again in the rhetorical sweeps.
The football was fair to middling. FC played an experimental squad. Pachuca had some of its stars on display. Bruno Marioni and Christian Gimenez were the guys I was watching (both Argentine) and Marioni missed a couple of sitters in the first half.
What struck me most in the first 45 was how the visitor played the ground game. Short, quick passes, constant ball support, seldom playing themselves into blind alleys and corners where possession was given away cheaply. It could have been 4-0 at the half.
TFC was less fluid. Robert missed Amado Guevera's support. Attacks fizzled on the flanks as the midfielders were unable to support the forwards, the backs not backing up the middies. Ball support, the essence of the modern game just as puck support is what makes a good hockey team sing.
It struck me afterward that a full-up FC would have had its hands full with a side like Pachuca, the gap between the best Mexican teams and the middle-of-the-pack MLS sides is still visible.
Give it time. We'll get there.
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