Match recap: Puebla 1, Santos Laguna 1

A top performance by goalkeeper Jesús Rodríguez and a miss from the penalty spot by Julio Furch allowed Puebla to walk away from their match with Santos Laguna with a 1-1 draw.

Santos started the match with a little bit of a different look, Starting Ayrton Preciado out on the left wing and putting Javier Correa up top with talismanic striker Julio Furch. Preciado looked comfortable along the wing, using his speed and technical prowess to chase down balls and beat his man along the touch line and end line.

Puebla on the other hand weren’t able to do much in possession in the early stages of the match, often allowing Santos to press them into turning the ball over or by simply dribbling their way into trouble.

Correa would almost get Santos on the board in the second minute when he rocketed a shot off of the post. In the 12th minute, José Abella played a perfect through ball to Correa but Correa’s shot hit again the far post and bounced out to a waiting Puebla defender.

It would be Puebla that would finally break though however in the 20th minute when José Rodríguez would hit a cross to Lucas Cavallini, who headed it into the air. Pablo González would hit a powerful volley to beat goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco and give the home side the lead.

The third time would be the charm for Correa though, who in the 26th minute was able to head on a pass from José Abella up and over Puebla goalkeeper Jesús Rodríguez to draw the sides level

The play went back and forth, with both teams pushing hard to get a second goal. Puebla had a shot of their own ring off of the post.

Deep into stoppage time of the second half, Aldahir Molina went in hard on Brayan Garnica. After a couple minutes of VAR deliberation, referee Fernando Hernandez awarded Santos the penalty. Julio Furch would step up to take the penalty but his shot went high over the crossbar and the half came to an end.

At the start of the second half, Furch went straight don the pitch with the intent to make up for his penalty but his shot just missed the target. The start of the half was a mad flurry of action, with Puebla forcing Jona Orozco to make some fantastic saves and Santos making Rodríguez have to do the same.

Santos peppered Rodríguez with 23 shots in the match, 8 of which were on goal. His performance single-handedly kept Santos from putting up multiple goals, and ultimately securing his team a valuable point.

Next week, Puebla hosts FC Juárez on Ruesday in Copa MX play before heading to play Veracruz on Friday evening. Santos will return home to host Chivas in Liga MX play on Sunday in the last game of Week 3.

Club Puebla: Jesús Rodríguez; Aldahir Molina (Brayan Angulo, 46’), Daniel Arreola, José Pallas, Néstor Vidrio, Jesús Zavala; Omar Fernández (José Guerrero, 82’), Pablo González, Alejandro Chumacero; Lucas Cavallini, Matías Alustiza (Francisco Acuña, 57’)

Santos Laguna: Jonathan Orozco; Jesús Angulo, Mateus Doría, Hugo Nervo, José Abella; Ayrton Preciado (Gerardo Arteaga, 68’), Diego Valdés, José Juan Vázquez, Brayan Garnica (Brian Lozano, 61’); Julio Furch, Javier Correa (Ulises Rívas, 77’)

Scoring: Club Puebla - Pablo González (20’); Santos Laguna - Javier Correa (26’)

Disciplinary: Club Puebla - Lucas Cavallini (Yellow - 45+6’); Santos Laguna - None