PACHUCA CF vs. CLUB SANTOS LAGUNA
Sunday, July 20, 2008 - 9 p.m. CT
Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas
Group Stage - GROUP B - Match 12
REFEREE: German Arredondo (MEX)
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Marvin Torrentera (MEX); Salvador Rodriguez (MEX)
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Fernando Galvan (USA)
MATCH BACKGROUND
By the time Pachuca and Santos kick off just outside Dallas, their task will be laid out ahead of them. Regardless, a Pachuca victory will eliminate Santos; if that secures qualification for Pachuca will be dependent on the result of the Chivas USA-New England Revolution game immediately preceding.
Pachuca CF
In 2007, Pachuca's charge to the inaugural title really began with the third group game, when they defeated Chivas de Guadalajara in a do-or-die contest to advance to the semifinals, then defeated the Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy, both on penalties, for the championship. Pachuca essentially faces a must-win game again this year, against Primera División rival Santos, after the loss to New England. "The reality is that we lost, but whether or not we advance to the next round is still in our hands," coach Enrique Meza said. "It will be a tough game, though, because it's Santos." Like the other Mexican teams in the competition, Pachuca is building to their league opener, when they take on Tigres UANL in Monterrey on Saturday. "I liked the team and the way we played, but it's difficult to play on these types of surfaces that we're not used to. I think we played well. I think we had the best chances of the game. Ultimately, it was the penalty that decided the game. I think in the end, though, we came out of the game having created the better chances," Meza said. Still, the post-match talking point would always be the penalty kick called well into second-half stoppage time. "It was called, but ultimately I don't really know whether or not it was a handball," Meza said. "It was too close to really know whether it was or not."
Club Santos Laguna
Santos Laguna completed their run-up to SuperLiga 2008 with a 4-1 victory against Real Salt Lake in Utah. But they've now suffered through back-to-back 1-0 defeats to leave them on the verge of elimination. "We didn't put away or chances. They had one and put it away," Matias Vuoso said. "It wasn't a matter of overconfidence. We wanted to win it and we had our opportunities. They're a team that did well to defend and they were able to put away their chance." Still, the few goals scored throughout the group mean that Santos still have a real chance to advance - though they might be looking ahead to their Primera Division opener. "It didn't go very good. We had a lot of chances to put it away in the first half and we didn't and it cost us in the second half," Santos defender Edgar Castillo said. "We're pretty much out. We have one game against Pachuca and I don't know if the coach is going to play the starters or not. We open our league on the 27th against America in Azteca (Stadium)." Vuoso said the loss to Chivas USA will serve the defending champions well as they go forward. "We'll try to keep our head high. We know we played well tonight but playing against a team like that teaches us a lesson. They were able to defend and take advantage of their one scoring chance. We didn't."
State of Play:Group B
No team has qualified for the semifinals, and no team has been eliminated, in Group B.
The tiebreakers in the group stage are as follows: (i) Head-to-Head Results; (ii) Goal Differential; (iii) Goals Scored; (iv) Coin Toss.
This weekend's results may lead to a number of three-way ties in each of the groups. If no one team has defeated the other two (Head-to-Head Results), then the subsequent tiebreakers are employed to advance a single team (as opposed to eliminating teams). If the tiebreakers fail to advance a single team, the tiebreakers are then used to eliminate one of the three teams. The tiebreaker procedures would then be reapplied between the two teams left standing in order to determine the club to advance. The tiebreakers are applied one more time between the two teams that failed to advance if it is necessary to determine a second-place team.
