Mexico City /
The Pumas will celebrate Christmas in style with a victory against the rival that has given them the most headaches in recent times and they also did it with authority after winning 2-0 in the last game of the Cup going to Mexico at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario.
With great goals from Gustavo del Prete and Gael Rodríguez, the cats closed their participation in the friendly tournament giving away a victory that has filled a team that did not know the victory in pre-season with Rafa Puente as coach.
The Pedregal team showed more aggressiveness on offense, they were seen with more intensity, especially Eduardo Salvio who will arrive at a good time at the start of Clausura 2023. However, his clarity to find goal shots is still deficient.
América gave a certain advantage by starting certain homegrown players, such as Daniel Blanco on the side. With that, players like Toto Salvio and Gustavo del Prete found a different mark than a veteran and were able to play with more freedom.
This was reflected in the first goal of the game when at minute 18, Toto Salvio filtered the ball for Tuti del Prete, who scored just by raising the ball before the departure of Óscar Jiménez, who is shaping up to start after the departure from Guillermo Ochoa to Italian soccer.
Relive Del Prete’s goal
Rafa Puente moved his pieces back into misalignment for the second time. All in order to give minutes to most of his players, so he replaced Toto Salvio and Juan Dinenno who left his place for Diogo de Oliveira, who received the applause of the fans.
Diogo came on focused and immediately made a play with Gael Rodríguez on a wall that left the youth squad player one-on-one before Óscar Jiménez, who managed to deflect the shot with his leg.
Gael Rodríguez made the difference and the second goal in a counter-attack when, taking the ball to the area, he sent a shot that went into the goal, scoring a great goal. It looked like a center and surely Jiménez thought so, he was unable to return and only launched to make it spectacular 2-0.
It was all for Pumas in the Cup going to Mexico. Although they won and have five points, there is no way to lead Group A to play in the Final. This is because Cruz Azul still has one more game against América. That duel will be a factor in determining who plays for the cup.
For now, Pumas will arrive at the Clausura with the boost of a victory and calming the doubts of the fans and celebrating a Merry Christmas.