Pumas will look to continue their unbeaten start to the Liga MX season on Sunday, when they travel to take on Pachuca.

The visitors have put four points on the board in their opening two outings, while the hosts have only managed a draw alongside a defeat thus far.

Match preview

Pachuca headed into the new Liga MX season on the back of a memorable campaign last time around, as they lifted a first domestic trophy since 2016 in the Apertura phase, initially sealing a quarter-final place with a fourth-placed finish in the table, before progressing to the final with landmark two-legged triumphs over Tigres and Monterrey.

They then met Toluca and secured the silverware in style, dishing out a 5-1 thrashing in the first leg and putting up a 3-1 victory in the second leg to earn a seventh Liga MX title, before they finished fifth in the Clausura stage and saw their second knockout bid end prematurely in reclassification with a penalty shootout loss to Santos Laguna.

Still on a high following their glory in the first half of the campaign, and with Guillermo Almada still at the helm, they turned their focus to the new season and began with a trip to Mazatlan, eventually leaving with a point from a 1-1 draw, as Lucas Di Yorio had them ahead on the stroke of half time before Eduard Bello levelled the scoring for the hosts around the hour mark.

In their search for a first victory, Los Tuzos then travelled to take on Club Leon last weekend, but they certainly had a tough day, suffering a 4-0 beating as Ivan Moreno, Jaine Barreiro and Jesus Angulo had the hosts 3-0 up at the interval, before Brian Rubio added insult to injury with a fourth deep into injury time at the end of the meeting.

Pachuca will now be desperate to put that disappointment behind them and get their season up and running with a first victory on Sunday, but they face a tough test against a Pumas side who have enjoyed a positive start to the term.

The seven-time champions had a season to forget last time around, initially missing out on a reclassification place in the Apertura stage as they finished 16th with just 14 points from their 17 outings.

They then entered the Clausura campaign and again struggled for any sort of form, eventually finishing 14th with 18 points, one short of the reclassification spots.

Antonio Mohamed was appointed late in that campaign and has since led the Auriazules into the new term with the aim of improving this time around, and they began with a tough trip to Club Tijuana, eventually coming away with a 3-2 victory from a dramatic affair, firstly going ahead through Ulises Rivas before coming back from 2-1 down to triumph thanks to Juan Dinenno's leveller and Eduardo Salvio's decisive 89th-minute goal.

On the back of that winning start, Mohamed's side hosted Mazatlan in their second league outing last Sunday, and they may have been slightly disappointed to come out with a point, as neither team managed to break the deadlock.

That did mean, however, that the Auriazules remain unbeaten heading into the third round of games, and they will now set out to build on the positive start in the coming weeks and establish themselves in a strong position as the Apertura season develops ahead of the knockout phase, starting with an away win this weekend.

Team News

Pachuca only made slight alterations to the starting XI for their trip to Leon, but after the 4-0 thrashing last time out, Guillermo Almada could look to make more wholesale changes for Sunday's match, with the likes of Francisco Figueroa, Fernando Ovelar, Illian Hernandez, Pedro Pedraza and Jorge Berlanga all fighting to come in from the outset.

Lucas Di Yorio should keep his place up front, after opening his account for the season on the opening day, while Hernandez will hope to displace Roberto de la Rosa and come into the front two.

Israel Luna is unlikely to featureafter he was forced off early in the Leon game, with Pedraza the frontrunner to take his place and offer more solidity alongside Elias Montiel in the engine room.

Pumas, meanwhile, deployed the same starting XI in their opening two league outings, and we could again see the same setup on Sunday in Mohamed's preferred 4-4-2 setup, with star man Juan Dinenno again bound to lead the line, having found the net on the opening day after hitting 14 goals last season.

He should be joined by Gustavo del Prete, while Eduardo Salvio and Cesar Huerta will offer further threat from the wings.

Ulises Rivas is another attacking presence from his role in midfield alongside Jose Caicedo, while Natan and Arturo Ortiz will again partner up in the middle of the back four.

Pachuca possible starting lineup:
Ustari; Castillo, Cabral, Barreto, Rodriguez; Ovelar, Montiel, Pedraza, J Hernandez; Di Yorio, I Hernandez

Pumas possible starting lineup:
Gonzalez; Bennevendo, Natan, Ortiz, Aldrete; Salvio, Rivas, Caicedo, Huerta; Dinenno, Del Prete

We say: Pachuca 1-1 Pumas

Pumas will be relatively pleased with their start, while Pachuca are yet to put a win on the board after last season's Apertura triumph, and we cannot quite pick a winner on Sunday, instead opting for a share of the spoils in what promises to be a close-fought encounter.


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Written by
Sam Varley

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