Four days ago, this column wrote that the Efecto Aleco is real until the results say otherwise. On Wednesday night, the results spoke again.
Santos Laguna beat Pumas UNAM 2-0 at Estadio TSM Corona. It was their sixth straight win, something no Santos team had ever done. And the owner was not in his box to see it.
The Owner Was Not in His Box
Hours after the 5-0 win over Queretaro on Saturday, Aleco Irarragorri was in surgery. The club’s official statement said he underwent a gallbladder operation in the early hours of Sunday, October 18, and that it was a success.
On Monday, October 19, the club posted a video message from its president. He is in a hospital bed, players gathered around him, doing birthday numerology for a staff member. Then he leaves the squad its homework:
“Después de la siete, vamos por la ocho. Eso se los dejo de tarea”
After the seventh, we go for the eighth. He was talking about league titles, from a hospital room, in the middle of a winning streak.
He was not in his box on Wednesday night, and the streak survived his absence. That is rather the point of this piece.
His own account, silent since the wine bet, came back to life on Thursday morning:
“Abrazos titanes. Hasta mañana 😇🫀🪽”
Six in a Row, a First in Club History
The league’s own account marked the full-time whistle with a word Santos fans have waited years to read next to their club’s name:
“¡Triunfo histórico! @ClubSantos venció a Pumas y alcanzó seis triunfos consecutivos por primera vez en su historia…”
The run reads like a misprint. FC Juarez 2-1, Toluca 3-2 away, Pachuca 1-0, Atletico San Luis 2-1 away, Queretaro 5-0, Pumas UNAM 2-0.
Eighteen points from eighteen available. Before it, Santos had taken one point from their first seven matches, with five straight defeats to open the tournament.
They have kept clean sheets in the last two. They sit ninth on 19 points, one point outside the direct Liguilla places, with four matches left.
The Captain Signed On
Minutes before kickoff against Pumas, the stadium screens carried news of their own. Carlos Acevedo, the captain and goalkeeper, had extended his contract until 2030. The club posted it before the match:
“¡HAY CARLOS ACEVEDO PARA RATO! ✍️🔥 Carlos extiende su vínculo con el club hasta 2030, una apuesta por la continuidad y el compromiso de seguir defendiendo estos colores. ¡Vamos, Guerreros! ⚔️🇳🇬”
Acevedo is an academy product who has spent his whole career at the club. He then saved both shots Pumas put on target.
Renewals are paperwork in October. Announcing one to a full stadium, mid-streak, is a statement about where the club thinks this is going.
The Argument Changed
Here is how you know the streak stopped being a joke. The loudest social media argument on Wednesday night was not about the owner.
It was about the first minute. Nathan Silva brought down Ezequiel Bullaude, the referee gave a penalty and a red card, and the referee analysts went to war. One of the country’s best known former officials called it plainly:
“🛑NO ES PENAL🛑 Este contacto de Nathan de @PumasMX no es suficiente para hacer caer al jugador de @ClubSantos que da 3 pasos más y después cae. Marcaron penal y roja por evitar oportunidad manifiesta de gol. El VAR no entró porque para él no hay elementos claros para quitar el penal.”
Others argued the opposite. Eduardo Aguirre scored the penalty, Franco Pardo scored a second one late, and Santos won a match the country argued about like it mattered.
Nobody argues like that about a meme. They argue like that about a team they are starting to worry about.
This Is the Real Deal
Memes do not win six straight. Memes do not keep back-to-back clean sheets, or win at Toluca and San Luis, or collect 18 points from 18 after taking one from 21.
The tests are still coming. Santos go to Tijuana on Sunday, October 25, and host Necaxa on Sunday, November 1. Four matches will decide whether this ends in the Liguilla.
But the question has flipped. It is no longer whether the Efecto Aleco is real. It is how far it goes.
The owner set the target himself, from his hospital bed: after the seventh title, the eighth. Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Pumas UNAM was one more step taken without him in the building.
