Match recap: Puebla F.C. 0, Santos Laguna 2

Santos picked up their second win in a row on the road, a feat they last accomplished in March of 2018, by downing Puebla 2-0 at Estadio Cuauhtémoc. Julio Furch converted a penalty, David Andrade had a flash of brilliance, and Carlos Acevedo strung together a phenomenal series of saves to preserve the clean sheet for Santos.

From the onset of play Santos was really on the front foot, retaining possession and dictating the tempo of play. Josecarlos Van Rankin attempted the first shot of the game just 15 seconds in, setting the tone from the visitors. Santos made a couple of forays into the Puebla end during the first quarter hour, but the final pass never fully materialized. Puebla eventually started to get some possession of their own, however they too couldn’t seem to find the final ball to unlock the Santos defense. Puebla did finally get a good ball through from Christian Tabó to Amaury Escoto, but his shot on the pivot was well stopped by Carlos Acevedo.

In the 29th Santos would win a penalty when Fernando Gorriarán went up for a ball against Nésto Vidrio and Vidrio stepped on his foot as he attempted to jump, knocking him down. Julio Furch stepped up and converted the penalty, netting his second goal of the season.

This emboldened Santos, although it opened them to the counterattack. Acevedo made a great fingertip save on a tough angle shot by Amaury Escoto mere minutes after Furch’s goal. But Santos would score again in the 42nd when seemingly out of nowhere David Andrade made a move with his left foot along the top of the box to lose two defenders and then shot with his right past Vikonis.

Puebla tried to pull one back before the end of the half, but the best they were able to muster was a Tabó shot from distance that Acevedo smothered. The referee saw no need for stoppage time, and the sides went into the locker room with the visitors enjoying a 2-0 lead.

Santos remained largely on the front foot to start the second half, with Puebla not having much success moving the ball offensively. Santos was not satisfied with the two goal lead, with Furch and Gorriarán both attempting shots and forcing Vikonis to make saves to keep his team in the game.

In the 58th, Vidrio and Octavio Rivero both went up for a ball and clashed heads, with Vidrio receiving the worst of it. He was down on the pitch for a couple of minutes as the medics attended to the gash on his head. He would return to the match after swapping out his shirt and donning a swim cap.

Santos played a perfect mix of looking for a third goal while not exposing themselves defensively. They looked content to allow Puebla to retain some possession but gain nothing meaningful, forcing lateral and backwards passes in a vain attempt to find lanes for a through ball. Santos was content to let them while looking to run as much time off of the clock as possible.

Puebla had a dangerous flurry in the 89th where seemingly out of nowhere Daniel Arreola had a shot that Acevedo made a fantastic save on. On the resulting corner kick, 15 attempted a chilena and Acevedo turned that away. Then he made another on a header when the ball was finally cleared out of harm’s way.

Puebla will host Rayados on Saturday, October 17th while Santos will utilize the international break for the make-up match against Tijuana at home on the 11th before hosting Pachuca on October 18th.

Puebla F.C.: Nicolás Vikonis; Bryan Angulo, Daniel Arreola, Néstor Vidrio, George Corral (Pablo González, 55’); Omar Fernández (Daniel Álvarez, 73’), Osvaldo Martínez, Javier Salas, Salvador Reyes (Santiago Ormeño, 55’); Christian Tabó; Amaury Escoto (Bernardo Cuesta, 73’)

Santos Laguna: Carlos Acevedo; David Andrade, Matheus Dória, Hugo Rodríguez, Josecarlos Van Rankin; Gael Sandoval (Adrián Lozano, 77’), Fernando Gorriarán, Alan Cervantes, Brayan Garnica (Carlos Orrantia, 73’); Octavio Rivero (Eduardo Aguirre, 90+2’), Julio Furch

Scoring: Puebla F.C. - None; Santos Laguna - Julio Furch (31’), David Andrade (42’)

Disciplinary: Puebla F.C. - Christian Tabó (Yellow - 68’), Bernardo Cuesta (Yellow - 77’); Santos Laguna - Josecarlos Van Rankin (Yellow - 38’)