Paco Palencia scored two minutes into injury time to rally Pumas to a 2-2 draw with W Connection on Wednesday, keeping it unbeaten in the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.
Pumas twice equalized from one-goal deficit in the final three minutes with a flurry of offense not seen earlier in the match. Victor Rosales had equalized for Pumas in the 87th minute before Renato Pereira converted a corner kick in the 89th minute to restore W Connection's lead.
Jonathan Farias scored his second goal of the Champions League from a bouncing cross in the 21st minute, a tally that looked like it would hold until the flurry of goals in the final minutes.
The result left Pumas atop Group D with seven points, four better than Comunicaciones and Real Espana, which were face off on Thursday.
W Connection remained at the bottom with only one point.
Pumas, which has lost seven of eight games in the Mexican Apertura this season and sits 16th in the 18-team league, scored more in the last three minutes than it had in its previous two league matches.
Rosales latched onto a ball that pinged through the penalty area from a corner kick to seemingly rescue Pumas, which had been outplayed for much of the match. Pereira responded two minutes later, looping a backward header from a corner by Hector into the upper corner of the net.
Palencia, who has not scored in seven games in the Mexican Apertura, was unmarked at the back post when a corner was headed through the area in the 92nd minute, driving a right-footed shot from the edge of the six-yard box.
Pumas started an all-Mexican team with a mix of veterans such as Palencia and rarely used reserves. It had the better of possession for the first 10 minutes, but produced nothing dangerous.
W Connection eventually asserted control, generating a pair of corners by the 20th minute and finally exploiting the advantage a minute later.
Hughtun Hector bounced a cross into the penalty area from the right side that Farias took off his chest, and volleyed the bounding ball with his right foot across the goal just inside the left post from 10 meters.
W Connection continued to have the better of play for the remainder of the half, forcing Pumas goalkeeper Odin Patino to punch away a shot from distance by Hector in the 30th minute and grab another shot by Farias in the 39th.
Pumas' only real opportunity came in the 41st when W Connection keeper Jan Michael Williams had to dive right to knock away Javier Cortes' shot from distance.
The Mexicans started more brightly to start the second half, with Oscar Rojas forcing Williams into a save in the 48th minute and three minutes later when Fernando Espinoza worked his way through the penalty area before the ball was tackled away.
But W Connection again reasserted itself. Farias was sent in on goal virtually unmarked in the 60th only to shoot wide. He also ran onto a loose ball in the 81st in the penalty area, and again shot wide.
Fevrier: We’re not going to stop.
By: Randy Bando (ttproleague).
“We will maintain our level of play and continue trying to get victories,” said a confident W Connection coach Stuart Charles Fevrier despite giving up a victory late against Mexican side Pumas UNAM on Wednesday night at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium.
W Connection held a 1-0 advantage for most of the match thanks to a 21st minute strike by Jonathon Frias, however Paco Palencia scored two minutes into injury time to rally Pumas to a 2-2 draw with W Connection on Wednesday, keeping the Mexicans unbeaten in the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.
Pumas twice equalized from one-goal deficit in the final three minutes. Victor Rosales had equalized for Pumas in the 87th minute before Renato Pereira converted a corner kick in the 89th minute to restore W Connection’s lead.
“Our performances in all three games have been satisfactory,” continued Fevrier. “Last night [against Pumas] was a high performance game, but we lost concentration in injury time and allowed the equalizing goal
“It was disappointing for all of us but we can take alot of positives from the match,” added the St Lucian.
W Connection were edged 1-0 against Real CD Espana(Honduras), 2-1 against CSD Communicaciones(Guatemala) and most recently registered a 2-2 draw with Group D leaders. W Connection are at the bottom with just one point.
Connection are scheduled to depart Trinidad over the weekend for Guatemala to take on CD Communicaciones next week in match four.
“We still have three games, two away from home and we are confident that we can do better,” said the W Connection coach. “We will continue preparing for better performances.”
Judging from his side’s performance against the Mexican team, Fevrier sees an improvement in Caribbean football but admits, alot more needs to be done.
“The Mexican team is a good team. But in terms of our play...we have been working hard in the Caribbean and especially Trinidad. It’s great to have an environment where players can play professionally. But there are a lot of areas that needs improving and not only in the football but the league as well. More discipline must also come from the players on and off the pitch,” he explained.
“Against Pumas we showed good tactical intelligence. But we need to keep improving. We also need to play more football at this level and I think that more teams from the region should aspire to reach this level.”
Fevrier also had a suggestion that CONCACAF should ensure that all teams within the CONCACAF regions should have representation. And one way to do so from the Caribbean is by automatically qualifying the CFU Club Champions into the Group stage of the CONCACAF Champions’ League.