Mexico interim manager Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti said he encouraged several players who had joined up with the Mexico national team for September's friendly matches against Uruguay and the United States to get back into their clubs as quickly as possible. That meant Hirving Lozano, Erick Gutierrez, and Guillermo Ochoa heading home after a 4-1 defeat to Uruguay. Raul Jimenez traveled to Nashville but hardly trained (he played goalkeeper in the final session before the match) and returned to Wolves.
Ferretti's encouragement paid off. All four players who traveled to the U.S. for the matches but didn't take part in the second game had excellent weekends.
We've already talked a bit about what the PSV duo of Lozano and Gutierrez managed. Each played a big part in PSV's 7-0 rout of ADO Den Haag that sent the Dutch side into the Champions League group stage full of confidence. Lozano scored the opener with a heads-up play to pick off a bad pass from a center back to the goalkeeper. Gutierrez made his debut and within five minutes had his first assist, putting a ball over the top for Lozano that "Chucky" finished off with a lift of his leg, and his first goal - an impressive left-footed effort from outside the box.
Jimenez will be happy to see his name on the list. He and his Wolves teammates racked up opportunity after opportunity in the first hour but weren't able to put any of their chances away. That changed in the 61st minute when he finished off a move by putting Matt Doherty's pass into the corner of the goal and ran off to celebrate. His goal stood in a 1-0 Wolves win over Burnley.
It also was a good weekend for Ochoa, who kept a clean sheet for Standard Liege in a scoreless draw with Sporting Charleroi. The point keeps Standard in the top six, which qualifies teams for the championship round in the Belgian league.
Marco Fabian started for Eintracht Frankfurt, playing just over an hour in a 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund. While the result wasn't what Fabian and his teammates were hoping for, even being back on the field for the Bundesliga club has to feel good for the 29-year-old. He was outside manager Adi Hutter's plans and was near a move to Turkey before the deal collapsed. That left him in limbo, stuck with Frankfurt but apparently not in the plans, but he has worked himself back into the picture.
There were mixed results for the Mexicans in Spain. Miguel Layun probably had the best day, getting his first start with Villarreal and setting up Carlos Bacca's winner as the Yellow Sub topped Leganes. Hector Moreno started at center back and had a good showing but couldn't help Real Sociedad to a victory. The Basque club fell 2-1 to Barcelona. Andres Guardado captained Real Betis to a scoreless draw with Valencia, getting shown a yellow card in the process. Nestor Araujo and Celta de Vigo play Monday.
Hector Herrera and Jesus Corona both started for Porto in a 1-1 draw in the cup. Their eyes are fixed on this week's Champions League opener against Schakle.
Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez missed West Ham's 3-1 win over Everton with illness, while Diego Reyes stayed on the bench in Fernbahce's 1-0 win over Konyaspor.
