We learned three things in San Diego FC’s first trip south of the border, to face Mexico City club Pumas UNAM in the Concacaf Champions Cup on Tuesday night at famed Estadio Olimpico Universitario.
We learned that Pablo Sisniega, its Mexico City-born goalkeeper who spent most of his career as a backup, is a worthy starter, making one spectacular save after another despite his team rapidly wilting in the rarefied air of 7,500 feet — “an absolute monster for us,” coach Mikey Varas said.
We learned that SDFC will face reigning Liga MX champion Toluca in the round of 16 next month, with Tuesday’s 1-0 loss against Pumas enough to advance based on a 4-2 aggregate following the 4-1 win at Snapdragon Stadium last week. The first leg will be in San Diego on March 11, the return leg a week later in Toluca.
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We also learned where Fox Sports, the host broadcaster for the World Cup in June, prioritizes international soccer.
Tuesday’s English-language telecast in the States was on Fox Sports 2, except for 12 minutes in the second half when the network suddenly and inexplicably interrupted coverage to switch to … a college basketball game between Iowa State and TCU?
Another game, Purdue at Nebraska, went into overtime on Fox Sports 1 and the network prioritized the start of Iowa State-TCU over SDFC’s game against Pumas that had just entered the 52nd minute. Purdue and Nebraska ended moments later, but instead of immediately moving Iowa State-TCU to FS1 and resuming soccer coverage, FS2 waited 10 minutes.
The interruption occurred just as the game got interesting.
Pumas needed a 3-0 win to advance, since the first tiebreaker if the aggregate score is knotted is away goals and Pumas had scored at Snapdragon Stadium last week in the 4-1 loss.
Pumas made three changes to its starting 11 from the first leg with a full-throttle attack in mind. It worked, creating a pair of chances in the opening half-hour that compelled saves from Sisniega, who was starting because incumbent CJ dos Santos still hasn’t fully recovered from a gruesome injury during the playoffs last season that involved facial fractures.
The breakthrough came in the 47th minute on a free kick by Pedro Vite that Sisniega judged, incorrectly it turned out, would be headed back across the goal. Instead, the ball hit no one and bounced into the net.
Christopher McVey of San Diego FC is put under pressure by Juninho Vieira of Pumas during Tyesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup match between Pumas UNAM and San Diego FC at Olimpico Universitario Stadium in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)
It was his only misstep all night. Otherwise, he turned back the historic Mexican club — and three-time Concacaf Champions Cup titlist — over and over and over, recording eight saves.
In the 12th minute, it was a block of a point-blank shot by Uriel Antuna.
In the 27th minute, diving to his left to thwart Juninho Vieira.
In the 51st minute, getting a glove on a flick from Roberto Morales in the box.
In the 62nd minute, denying Alvaro Angulo.
In the 84th minute, denying Juninho again.
“We’re really fortunate,” Varas said by phone. “We have two guys who last year played big games for us, and we’re reaping the benefit of that now where Pablo can step in and really make a big impact for us.”
Pedro Vite of Pumas celebrates with a teammate after scoring the match’s lone goal during Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup match between Pumas UNAM and San Diego FC at Olimpico Universitario Stadium in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)
In all, Pumas had a 25-5 advantage in overall shots and 9-3 in shots on target. The hosts had 62.5% of possession (nearly 70% in the second half) and forced a whopping 44 clearances.
This is not how Varas envisioned it would go, vowing on Monday that his players wouldn’t abandon their attacking DNA despite the three-goal cushion from the first leg and specter of high elevation. And they didn’t in the first half, patiently possessing the ball when they won it and generating a pair of golden chances that resulted in shots by left wing Amahl Pellegrino hitting the right post — twice.
“We always want to play with initiative, and we gave a really good effort in the first half of at least making a balance,” Varas said. “As in life, sometimes the game just goes the other way for you. No matter what we tried, we weren’t able to get a foothold back on the initiative side of things.
“The big thing is, I think the guys showed that even when we don’t have initiative in the game, they can still find ways to win. That’s that competitive spirit that I think is really important in a group that has the potential of really doing something special.”
This was a big step, beating a Liga MX team in the opening round. But Pumas hasn’t won a trophy in 15 years, the third-longest drought in Liga MX, and was booed off the field by its own fans Tuesday night. Toluca, the reigning champ, is a different animal altogether.
And it’s not 7,500 feet. It’s 8,750.
“Just the experience is going to be gold for us,” said Varas, who used all five of his subs as his starters gasped for oxygen. “This was a lot of the guys’ first time doing it. You’ve got it in your head what it might be like, but when your heart starts pumping, that’s a whole different thing.
“The second thing is, we’ve got to be able to create a game plan and strategy and also an implementation of it that we don’t concede so much of the territory and so much of the ball for so long. Otherwise, you depend on too many firemen plays from guys, especially from your goalkeeper.”