Monterrey, Puebla Going For It All

Neither Monterrey nor Puebla will be content with a draw when the two sides meet Wednesday in Estadio Cuauhtemoc for the start of their quarterfinal series.

May 13, 2009 12:41:24 PM

More On :  Monterrey, Puebla
Alvaro Ortiz, Everaldo Ferreira y Alejandro Acosta- Puebla vs Necaxa (Mexsport)
Neither Monterrey nor Puebla could ever catch Pachuca during the Clausura 2009 season, but Monterrey did win out slightly over Puebla.

Monterrey finished higher in the table than their counterparts and as a result will have the home-field advantage in their quarterfinal series, which begins Wednesday in Puebla's Estadio Cuauhtemoc.
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For the visitors, simply pulling out a draw to go back home with a slight edge is not good enough.

"We're not content with anything," Monterrey's Gerardo Galindo said. "We want to leave that possibility aside. We aren't even thinking about settling for that. We want to finalize things on the field and we're hoping to give a great game."

By virtue of having finished higher in the regular-season table, Monterrey could draw both matches and advance to the semifinals.

But heading home with a draw would be dangerous. Puebla had a meager 2-3-3 record at home and scored nine goals while allowing 12 but were the best road team during the regular season. Puebla won five games and had a league-high 17 road points this season, and were one of just four clubs to not have a negative goal-differential.

Having such a positive road record, though, is not something the club is using as a back-up plan. Puebla's Alvaro Gonzalez said his team will do what it can to head to Estadio Tecnologico on Saturday with a lead in the aggregate-goals series.


"It's always important to go on the road with an advantage, although we've played much better on the road than we have at home," Alvaro Gonzalez said. "Regardless, we need to put ourselves in the best position."

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