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What is going on at CU?

April 7th, 2006 | By: John | 5 Comments »

Jimmy Lozano All this talk about Pumas got me thinking about their current state. I don’t have any definitive anwers, but I can certainly paint the picture. We have some very knowledgable posters. Perhaps you can shed some light onto this situation.

A few years ago, The fans at Olympic Stadium had so much to be thankful for. Their favorite son had returned to coach their beloved Pumas, they had won their first championship in 13 years, and were on the verge of becoming the first Mexican side to win back-to-back titles in the short season era. Their players constantly were named to the national team for friendlies and qualifiers, and excelled when they wore the national colors. But lately, the hinchas at CU have been scratching their heads wondering just what the heck has happened to one of the proudest clubs in Mexican soccer.

Over the course of the last few seasons, Pumas went from back-to-back champs, to also-rans. Their business model of developing talent and then selling them off to the highest bidder is still in place. They prefer to spend their money buying foreigners, than to pay their young prodigies. Hugo Sanchez was hailed as a great coach, but when the wins turned to losses he was forced to flee under a hail of bottles. It didn’t get much better for his successor, Miguel España. Even though his team lot in the finals of the South American cup to Boca Juniors, the team has struggled in the domestic competition, and has been eliminated in the Copa Libertadores—the worst performance by a Mexican side since they were allowed to compete. How bad was it, they lost not once, but twice to a club team from Venezuela. España fell on his sword, and now Pumas has their third coach in less than a year: Memo Vazquez. Even though the players gave Vazquez an upset win over League-leading Chiapas last week, their league performance has been less than mediocre, and there could be a chance that they could be on the relegation bubble next year.

I’ll admit it; I have been a Pumas UNAM fan all my life. How could I not be? When you are young and impressionable, and you have a guy like Cabinho scoring goals the way he did, you would be fan too. Not to mention the enourmous logo their shirts sported. Pumas formed the vertebrae for many a world cup side, except for this one. In 2006, not one current Puma has been chosen for the National Team. It makes you wonder, what is going on at CU?

Tags: Hugo Sanchez, Mexico, Pumas, que pasa?

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Comments

By Rene | April 7th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

Well,

there are three people formed in Pumas in relevant positions now: Lozano, Kikin and Torrado. And the decline is not recent:

1998

1, Jorge Campos
2, Claudio Suarez
3, Joel Sanchez
4, German Villa Castenada
5, Dulio Davino
6, Marcelino Bernal
7, Jesus Ramirez
8, Alberto Garcia Aspe
9, Ricardo Pelaez
10, Luis Garcia
11, Cuauhtemoc Blanco
12, Oswaldo Sanchez
13, Pavel Pardo
14, Raul Lara
15, Luis Hernandez
16, Isaac Terrazas
17, Francisco Palencia
18, Salvador Carmona
19, Braulio Luna
20, Jaime Ordiales
21, Jesus Arellano
22, Oscar Perez.

None of those players, if I recall correctly, played in PUMAS then, although there were 5 that had been forme PUMAS (Campus, Luna, Garcia Aspe, Garcia and Suarez).

2002

1 PEREZ Oscar (GK)
2 GABRIEL DE ANDA Francisco
3 GARCIA Rafael
4 MARQUEZ Rafael
5 VIDRIO Manuel
6 TORRADO Gerardo
7 MORALES Ramon
8 GARCIA ASPE Alberto
9 BORGETTI Jared
10 BLANCO Cuauhtemoc
11 LUNA Braulio
12 SANCHEZ Oswaldo (GK)
13 MERCADO Sigifredo
14 VILLA German
15 HERNANDEZ Luis
16 CARMONA Salvador
17 PALENCIA Francisco
18 RODRIGUEZ Joahan
19 CABALLERO Gabriel
20 BROWN Melvin
21 ARELLANO Jesus
22 RODRIGUEZ Alberto
23 CAMPOS Jorge (GK)

On this one, again, no current PUMAS, but 6 that were formed there. If I recall, Torrado was already in Europe. Sadly 4 of them were also from the previous group and only 2 were new additions.

As you can see, the decline is not recent. The reality is that the work Pumas has been doing with its junior teams has been lacking, because we see less and less people coming through their ranks, and we see more and more foreigners taking their place. The last time I remember a team with less than 4 foreigners in Pumas was back in the early 90s, when they won their only Championship in the 90s, and from which several players went to become the backbone of the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

If they want to return to a first class group, they need to reorganize themselves, and take more risks with youngsters. España was already doing some of that, as did Hugo when he first went in, but later, once Kikin, and Lozano left, stopped doing.

Now, it seems that Atlas, Chivas and Cruz Azul will provide most of the new blood and America, as always, will sprinkle one or two really good players (you really need to be an outstanding youngster to be able to start in a Team like America, filled with stars). Until Unam stops looking outside to get their difference makers and pays its players a bit better, I don’t see UNAM mass producing National Team-caliber players.

By John | April 7th, 2006 at 3:30 pm

Wow, you have a better memory than I do. But I did think Luna played for pumas badk in 98, although I may be wrong. Is there an issue with the cantera? Or is it all abou the cash?

Posted from United States

By Rene | April 7th, 2006 at 4:04 pm

Well, mismanagement in general has really bben the problem. You see, this team had a great president in Guillermo Aguilar Alvarez Jr., who was the son of the first president and financial backer of PUMAS back in 1954. In short, the guy knew what he was doing as soccer had been in the family for a while. He was instrumental in the first 3 championships (if I recall, Aguilar Alvarez Jr. was president for all 3 of them). Unfortunately, time is never forgiving and he died in 1997. Look at that date, and look at the other 2 dates I presented. Coincidence? I think not!

Unfortunately, a good chunk of the presidents and people in charge of management ever since have been either management people with little soccer knowledge, or soccer people with little management knowledge.

By Rene | April 7th, 2006 at 4:14 pm

To expand on my previous comment. With Hugo Sanchez, they pretty much got lucky. It was mostly Hugo’s personality that got them the championships, not because of great management.

Had they had a great management team, Hugo would still be there (they would have kept Hugo from becoming the media asshole who tried to snipe down Lavolpe and their own management team).

I for one, I’m glad to see Hugo out of the limelight. He was a great player, but he is also vain, opportunistic and probably overrates his own capabilities. In fact, he must have been Argentinian in his previous life (j/k to my Argentinian friends!)

As far as Braulio Luna, you are right, he was still with PUMAS i 1998. He switched to America in 1999.

By John | April 7th, 2006 at 4:24 pm

If Hugo was from Argentina, he probably would be taken more seriously. I kid! I kid!
Well, I know they are looking for another president. Hopefully they will hire one who is savvy in both management and soccer. The thing that worries me is the practice of hiring “primos,” what we call here in Texas the “good ol’ boy network.” Maybe Pumas can look outside the family to bring someone with fresh ideas to not only lead the team, but get the cantera (sp. for quarry for you monolinguals) to produce a higher quantity of talent.

Posted from United States

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