Feb 5, 2012
This weekend at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan an international tournament featuring River Plate (Argentina), UNAM Pumas (Mexico), and two clubs from Hungary (Ferencvarosi FC and Vasas FC). Since I am from Michigan, I decided it would be a good idea to attend and report on the tournament as well. As a FIFA fan, I was entirely excited to watch the Pumas play for a couple of different reasons. The first being, they have amazing kits. You really can’t go wrong with the giant puma on the front of the uni while sporting blue, white, and gold as the team colors. Secondly, they have a few players on FIFA that are simply amazing (Bravo–CF and Cortes–RM). Unfortunately, the two did not see the field in the first match of the day against Vasas FC.
The 2 p.m. game featured Vasas FC and UNAM Pumas. The game was played at a remarkably slow pace and Vasas FC showed little life throughout most of the match. UNAM donned a 4-4-2 and the outside midfielders moved forward exceptionally which led to numerous chances resulting in three goals for the Pumas. The RM for the Pumas, Marco Jimenez, played a spectacular game. He was able to torment the back line of Vasas FC for the entire 90 minutes. His efforts pushing the ball forward were directly resulted in all three of the goals. Defensively, the Pumas were stellar, only allowing two scoring chances worth noting. Cesar Sanchez looked the part of a young player on the rise for the Pumas. He shut down his entire half of the pitch and directed the ball nicely from his LB position. Overall, Vasas FC honestly looked lost out there. The showed little pace and limited skill, UNAM simply dominated from the opening touch.
In the 4 p.m. match up the Argentinian power house River Plate was featured vs. Ferencvarosi FC. Much like the 2 p.m. game, the Hungarian squad looked over matched. River Plate scored in the first minute of the game with a wonderful curving blast from Fernando Cavenaghi. Although Cavanaghi struck early, Juan Cazares, a young Ecuadorian midfielder, was the most impressive player on River Plate. He controlled the ball wonderfully in the midfield and put on a dribbling clinic as he pushed the ball forward. At only 19 years old, it appears as if he has a promising future at the club level. As the game wore on River Plate began to show its superiority and pulled away from Ferencvarosi FC, placing themselves in the final on Monday night vs UNAM Pumas.
Monday night will feature two teams with contrasting styles of play from what I witnessed today. UNAM was methodical and played through their veteran defensive midfielder Carlos Humberto González. Although their outside mids moved forward quite often, their game seemed much less skillful and slower than what River Plate showed. If UNAM is able to play at their pace and control possession, the Monday night finale might be a tight low scoring affair, but I cannot see this being the case. River Plate was impressive in their victory and showed significantly more skill than all of the other teams. With the clinical dribbling of Cazares and the goal scoring ability of Cavenaghi (13 goals in Argentinian league play this year), UNAM is going to have a rough go of it Monday night.
Prediction: River Plate wins 2-0
Fernando Cavenaghi did not make the trip – he’s back in Buenos Aires with the first team. You’re thinking of Luis Vila (their other #9) who scored both River goals… And the reason Martin Bravo & Javier Cortes didn’t see the field for Pumas is because they’re back in Mexico City also on first-team duties, just like “Cavegol” in Argentina.
I watched the River game on Sat and it looked like they got lucky to have won. Late in the game the Hungarian team was taking it to them and they slowed down the Argentinian attack vastly. It should be a good game tonight but they weren’t all that impressive to me at least. They got good footwork but ehh they didnt wow me like I thought they would.
River Plate left some of their players in Buenos Aires and they still won