Pachuca and Santos, two teams everyone expected to be doing much better, will face off at Estadio Hidalgo on Saturday, August 25, 2012 at 8:00 PM Eastern. Pachuca still seems to be struggling to adapt to Hugo Sanchez’ tactical schemes: it appears like the combination of massive additions to the squad and a new coach have proven to be too much. Santos appears to have a classic case of the champion’s hangover, having dropped several matches it would have easily won last season. This will be a match with two teams desperately looking for a win (specially Hugo Sanchez’ Pachuca).
Last week, without playing good soccer, Pachuca looked like it was going to come out of el infierno unscathed and with a point. However, a last minute goal by el Pajaro Benitez gave the win and the three points to Toluca. This left Pachuca with just one win in five matches, and with five points earned in five games, way below what was expected of this star-studded team. Frankly, Pachuca has been playing quite bad, they basically have not shown a specfic playing style, and the disappointing performance so far seems to be due to Hugo Sanchez.
Santos has not earned a win in any of its last three Liga MX matches, and has just gained seven points out of five matches this season. Last week against Pumas, Santos lost the match 1-2, not due to Pumas’ good play, but due to their own mistakes on defense. Over the past three matches against Puebla, Leon and Pumas, Santos has had defensive mistakes that have cost them two losses and a draw (remember they were up 2-0 against Puebla and ended with a 2-2 draw). If Santos wants to defeat Pachuca, it must focus on stopping the defensive mistakes.
Prediction: Both Pachuca and Santos have been pretty mediocre so far, both have had defensive mistakes in most of their matches, and both are looking for the win. Most of the pressure in this match will fall on Hugo Sanchez, who is really desperate for a win. I have seen Pachuca going from bad to not so bad in their five matches; Santos has not shown such improvement. I believe Pachuca will pull through and earn its first home victory of the season.The score will be Pachuca 2 – Santos 1.
Television: The Pachuca vs Santos match will be shown on Telefutura this Saturday, August 25 at 8 PM Eastern.
