A place in the knockout stage of the Leagues Cup will be at stake when Pumas and Monterrey clash in the final West 1 group fixture on Saturday at Q2 Stadium.
Both sides lost their opening game of this tournament to Austin FC, with the Mexico City-based club suffering a 3-2 defeat and Monterrey losing 2-0.
Match preview
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One of the surprise stories at the Leagues Cup thus far has been Monterrey's poor form in front of goal, a team that have yet to find the back of the net.
Their defeat against Austin on Tuesday was the first this side had ever suffered in the group phase of this tournament, while they have now lost two successive Leagues Cup affairs dating back to last year, failing to score both times.
Seeing this team crash out in the group stage would be a shock, given that they have made it to the semi-finals or further in eight of their last nine CONCACAF Champions Cup appearances, only missing the knockout portion of that competition in 2016-17.
Fernando Ortiz saw his side's two-match winning run end with their defeat on Tuesday, while they have now conceded multiple goals in the last two group fixtures at this tournament.
All three of their Leagues Cup defeats occurred when they conceded a second-half strike, with La Pandilla failing to score in each of those instances.
Rayados have won their last three meetings with Pumas by a combined margin of 8-1, with their previous defeat against them occurring in April 2022 (2-0).
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Universitarios will enter this encounter on the verge of going home in the group stage of this tournament for the first time.
That defeat versus Austin was their first in the group stage of this tournament within 90 minutes, and it ended their five-match unbeaten run across all competitions.
Gustavo Lema's men reacted too late against the Verde and Black, conceding more goals in their opener than they had in the entire 2023 group phase (two).
Not since the 2010-11 North American Superliga tournament have Pumas been eliminated from an international club competition in the group phase.
Pumas hold a slight edge over Monterrey in the table thanks to a superior goal difference, but that means nothing since there are no draws in this competition, and the first tiebreaker between two teams comes down to the head-to-head result between the two sides in question.
They have lost both of their Leagues Cup contests versus sides from Mexico, failing to score against Club Leon in 2021 (2-0) and Queretaro last year (1-0).
Team News
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There was only one change made to the Monterrey starting 11 on Tuesday from the side that began their match versus the Verde and Black with Johan Rojas replacing Maximiliano Meza, while Oliver Torres returned from his shoulder injury, playing the final 17 minutes.
The last time they faced Pumas, Brandon Vazquez, Sergio Canales and Gerardo Arteaga all found the back of the net in a 3-0 triumph.
From their 2-0 victory over Pachuca in Liga MX to their match against Austin, we saw four new faces in the starting 11 for Pumas, including Jesus Rivas, Rodrigo Lopez, Ignacio Pussetto and Ali Avila, with the latter currently on loan from Monterrey.
Avila scored their first goal of this competition late in the opening half, with the other strike coming courtesy of substitute Guillermo Martinez, who could have drawn his side level, missing a penalty in second-half stoppage time.
Monterrey possible starting lineup:
Andrada; Medina, Guzman, Moreno, Arteaga; Rodriguez, Torres; Cortizo, Canales, Corona; Vazquez
Pumas possible starting lineup:
Gonzalez; J. Rivas, Bennevendo, Nathan, Duarte; Huerta, U. Rivas, Caicedo, Ruvalcaba; Avila, Funes Mori
We say: Monterrey 3-1 Pumas
We believe the opening game for Monterrey will serve as a wake-up call for this squad, which is loaded with quality and experience to handle a must-win situation like this.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
