FC Atlas

Atlas 0 – 1 Puebla: Start Lighting the Veladoras

Alan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:10:45 +0000

Atlas lost last night to Puebla by the minimum difference of 0-1 in a game that was very exciting and could have gone either way. The loss comes especially hard since both Chivas and San Luis tied their games giving each of them a point over Atlas.

Group 1 Standings:
Toluca 28 pts
San Luis 18 pts
Chivas 16 pts
Atlas 15 pts
Querétaro 16 pts
Indios Juarez 5 pts

With two games left in the tournament it’s time to light those veladoras and dust off the calculators. There is still a chance that Atlas can enter the liguilla but they no longer control their own destiny. This Saturday they will play Chivas in a do-or-die game for both squads. They also need San Luis to tie or lose in order for a chance to play for a spot in the liguilla come week 17.

Highlights:

Atlas 1 – 1 Pachuca: Slowly But Surely

Alan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:21:41 +0000

Over the weekend Atlas tied at 1 with Pachuca, which isn’t particularly exciting except for the fact that both San Luis and Chivas lost their games which gave Atlas a chance to makeup ground.

The game was uneventful at most, except for the unsurprising sending off of Dario Botinelli for a double yellow card. It seems the only thing he has in common with “el pollo” is the color red. Given the fact that Atlas had 10 men from the 63rd minute a 1-1 final score isn’t that bad, however, with only 3 games left to go in the tournament both the coach and the players are not content with the points that got away.

Things in group 1 are getting interesting as we head towards the close of the tournament. Toluca who are first place in the group and first place overall have already qualified given the fact that San Luis, who are in second, are 12 points away. More interesting is the race for 2nd place and automatic qualification to the liguilla. Currently San Luis, Chivas, and Atlas are all within 2 point of each other. The only game between these three teams will be on week 16 when Atlas will play Chivas in the Clasico Tapatio.

Here’s hoping that come week 16 Atlas is still in position to make the liguilla.

Highlights:

Atlas 0 – 2 Atlante: Playoffs? Playoffs!?

Alan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:06:13 +0000

Another loss over the weekend puts the chance of Atlas making the playoffs that much more of a pipe dream.

Atlas’ 0-2 loss away to Atlante keeps the team in fourth place of group 1 with 14 points. However, it’s not all bleak since both San Luis and Chivas lost keeping the difference between them all the same. However, the loss is huge for an Atlas team that is not only trying to make it to the liguilla but also trying to stay away from relegation.

As Group 1 stands now San Luis, Chivas, and Atlas are all within 3 points of each other which means that either of the three has a chance of taking the second place spot and automatically qualifying for the liguilla. Since Atlas is 15th in the overall table with a -8 goal differential this seems like the only real way to make the liguilla.

Highlights:

Atlas 0 – 1 Querétaro

Alan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:11:07 +0000

Atlas lost 1-0 over the weekend to Querétaro, a result which dropped Atlas to fourth place in group 1, one point behind Chivas.

The only goal of the game came by way of Margarito Gonzalez’s head in the 30th minute.

Atlas again suffered from having a fair share of scoring opportunities and having no one to finish them. After the goal was scored Queretaro was content with playing the counter attack while Atlas looked for the equalizer that never came.

The tough is hard because not only is Queretaro in the same group as Atlas, but both teams are fighting off relegation.

Atlas’ next game will be away to Atlante.

Highlights:

Atlas Drops 2 Spots Without Doing Anything

Alan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:49:29 +0000

Atlas dropped two positions in group 2 over the weekend after Chivas and San Luis both won their makeup games.

The updated group 1 is as follows:

Toluca – 25 pts
Chivas – 15 pts
San Luis – 14 pts
Atlas – 14 pts
Querétaro – 6 pts
Indios – 4 pts

Atlas is trailing San Luis because of the goal differential. Atlas has a -5 goal differential while San Luis has a +2 differential.

Both the goal differential and the lower quality of group 1 means that Atlas’ only good chance of qualifying for the liguilla is by taking second place in the group.

Players are already talking about the importance of Atlas’ next game to their chances of making the liguilla. “We need to get a good results, we are the home team and it is a good fixture to come away with three points”

Four Atlas Players to Join U-17 National Team

Alan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:49:19 +0000

Atlas

The Mexican U-17 National Team, led by José Luis González China traveled to Spain for a tour of exhibition matches against the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Honduras. These games are in preparation for the U-17 World Cup taking place in Nigeria later this month. Mexico will be in Group B alongside: Brazil, Japan, and Switzerland.

Four Atlas players will be traveling with the team and will play in the U-17 World Cup:

Goalie – José Alujas Arreaga
Defender – Cesar Alberto Ibáñez Jiménez
Midfielder – Luis Fernando González Telles
Forward – Efrén Mendoza Cuatle

And We’re Back

Alan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:24:12 +0000

I apologize for the long hiatus and seeing as I’ve never really like to write about much other than the team, I will skip the details of the hiatus and hit the ground running.

With 11 weeks gone in the Apertura 2009 Atlas finds themselves in a pretty good spot. The team currently has 9th in the overall table with 11 points coming from: 4 wins, 5, losses, and 2 ties. This partial result is enough to put atlas in the Luigilla [as of now] as second place of group 1. Atlas is 11 points behind first place Toluca and 2 points ahead of Chivas.

So, not bad. Sure, at the beginning of the season I’d think there’d be more wins and more goals [only 9 so far] but at least they are still in a position to play in the liguilla. However, among the teams that would qualify for the liguilla Atlas has the fewest points, which means that the only real way they can make sure to enter the big dance is by staying second place of group 1.

However, being only two points ahead isn’t a huge safety net especially if Chivas starts winning. The week 16 game against Chivas could end up being very big for Atlas if they haven’t gained more ground by then.

New Sponsor

Alan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:57:43 +0000

Atlas just got themselves a shiny new sponsor to go on the front of their equally nice and shiny Apertura 09 kits. The sponsor is “Jalisco es México” which is a new marketing campaign to drive tourism to Jalisco.

The deal is set for the next sixth months and was celebrated today at the club installations. Atlas will unveil their new sponsor in their game against America this weekend.

In other news, Atlas has made another step into the 21st century with the addition of an official YouTube channel. Currently they have some game recaps from classic games, including the last time they were able to defeat Monterrey as visitors. All in all it’s some entertaining watching.

Atlas 2 – 1 Santos: Still Unbeaten at Home

Alan — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:33:30 +0000

Atlas remain unbeaten at the estadio Jalisco after managing to outlast Santos 2-1 in a game of two halves. For his part Gerardo Espinoza scores his first goal with Atlas this season, as Ismael Fuentes scored the other goal for Atlas and keeper Barbosa makes his debut.

The pitch at the Estadio Jalisco proudly displayed the zorro Z across midfield as the rain came down and Atlas played their second home game of the Apertura 09. The first half was very uneventful and boring with both teams managing only one shot on target and neither keeper having to do too much to keep their side level.

However, the second half picked up almost immediately as Ismael Fuentes headered in a Botinelli cross to put the team up 1-0. The goal came on Atlas’ 8th corner kick and was down and away from the Santos keeper Sanchez who received his fair share of jeers from the crowd.

Botinelli would be involved in the second goal as well as he fed a ball over to Osorno who crossed it back into the box to Espinoza who showed off a bit of individual skill, shaking a defender and scoring as he fell back to put Atlas up 2-0. Gerardo Espinoza made his return to Atlas that much sweeter by scoring what proved to be the game winner, Espinoza debuted with Atlas September 11th, 1999 when Atlas beat Celaya 3-0.

After going up 2 Atlas lost a lot of the initiative in the game and was defending for the rest of the game which resulted in a goal in the 70th minute by Juan Carlos Mosqueda. Luckily, Atlas was able to hold off the rest of the game and came away with a victory.

The team showed a lot more attacking creativity and Osorno has been consistent for Atlas in the past three games, however, the same cannot be said about the rest of the team. Chavez is still shaky in the back and managed to get himself booked and Pacheco had an overall forgettable performance. Keeper Barbosa looked solid, although I would have liked him to leave his feet to try and stop the Santos goal. There also seems to be a trend in Atlas where they finish up games defending and praying for the final whistle. However, Santos is a good opponent and beating them 2-0 (albeit without Vuoso) shows that the team does have the pieces to beat tough opponents.

Atlas’ next game is away at the Azteca when they take on America.

Highlights:

Atlas out of Manchester United Premier Cup

Alan — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:15:16 +0000

The Atlas U-15 team has been eliminated from the 2009 installment of the Manchester United Premier Cup after having lost both of their match day two games by the identical score of 0-2.

Last year Atlas made it to the finals of the tournament where they lost to Brazil’s Fluminense and left Manchester with second place. However, this year Atlas left with a disappointing performance, amounting only 3 points out of 4 games.

The final group standings stood as follows:

Right to Dream 10
Werder Bremen 10
Atlas FC 3
MTK Hungaria FC 3
Salgaocar SC 0

Although it is a shame that Atlas bowed out of the tournament early it is still important to see that the youngsters are getting opportunities to play against worldwide talent. Hopefully, with more experiences like this the Atlas youth teams will be stronger and because of that the first team will have depth as well. This is evident in the fact that in the current Apertura tournament, the U-17 and U-20 teams are doing really well.