CF Pachuca were off to a solid start under their first Japanese manager Robaato Rasamu. He’d led his new side, who only had ambitions to “not finish bottom” to eight points from six games and 13th place in the 18-team Liga MX Apertura stage.
January 2031 saw the transfer window open and Rasamu brought in around £1.5m selling off some old terrible players. He also realised he was only allowed to register nine non-Mexican born players in the league, so had to be careful. His first signing was a familiar face as he snapped up his Niigata midfielder Teppei Hino for £2.7m rising to £4.7m, but a better player arrived as Chilean midfielder Jason Gattini signed on a free transfer from Palestino.
Straight Into Liga MX Clausura
Pachuca had one month off between league stages, which gave Rasamu time to revamp his staff after sacking 90% of them during his interview process. He also finetuned his tactic, including Fernandinho moving up to a wing-back on the right, and promoted a few youngsters like 16-year-olds Iván Granados, Edson Rosas and Luis Fernández and 17-year-old striker Gabriel Guevara into the first team.
Pachuca began the Clausura stage at Apertura bottom side Mazatlán. They played terribly for 70 minutes but a few subtle tweaks saw two homegrown talents turn the game around as striker Vladimir Montaño poked them level then winger Ángel Rangel drilled home the winner. They put in the best performance of Rasamu’s reign at home to Tijuana as Montaño and Jewison Bennette put them 2-0 up before Montaño went on to wrap up his hat trick and a late club-record breaking fourth in a thumping 5-1 victory.
Rasamu got his first experience of the epic Estadio Azteca as his Pachuca side travelled to league favourites Club América. They caused a shock as Montaño scored 30 seconds after the break but América dominated and came back to win 2-1, but only scored the winner immediately after Rasamu made a triple sub.
Pachuca caused another shock next time out at home to North American champions Chivas. Fernández, playing as a false nine, fired home the opener from the edge of the box to become the club’s youngest ever goalscorer aged 16 years 148 days. Bennette and Fernandinho had them 3-1 up at half time, Chivas came flying back to make it 3-3 but Montaño’s deflected strike sealed a superb 4-3 win. And they took that momentum into an away game at Monterrey to win 1-0 through another Montaño goal.
After five games, Pachuca had played three of the best five teams in Liga MX and found themselves 2nd! They took that start into edging a 1-1 draw at home to 6th favourites for the league Santos Laguna but lost goalkeeper to a “fractured finger,” which meant 16-year-old Ricardo Juárez had to play in a 3-1 loss against Apertura table-toppers San Luis. That saw them drop off with a 2-1 loss at León and 1-1 at home to Juárez, in which Fernández scored this wondergoal free kick, before a 1-1 at 4th-place Toluca.
But they got back on track as Montaño scored another four-goal haul, which began with a perfect hat trick and included a naughty chip for his second, to down Necaxa 4-1. That took them past the Pachuca points tally in the Apertura stage with six games still remaining.
Pachuca returned to the Azteca and fell to an unlucky 1-0 defeat against Cruz Azul. But they had twice as many shots and three-times better xG, which gave Rasamu plenty to be pleased about despite the result. Fernández whipped an exact replica of the free kick against Juárez to earn a 2-1 win over Atlas before a Montaño double couldn’t prevent a 4-3 loss at 2nd-place Tigres.
The exciting young strikeforce helped them rebound as Fernández bagged a brace and Montaño the other in a 3-0 win at home to Puebla. Bennette had been quiet lately but made up for it with two goals and two assists, including creating Gattini’s first for the club, in a wild 4-2 win at Querétaro. But the two strikers were at it again as both scored in arguably Pachuca’s best performance yet to defeat 3rd-place Pumas 2-0.
That impressive final day performance saw Pachuca qualify for the end-of-season playoff quarter final. They finished Clausura in a strong 6th place, amassing 30 points with nine wins, three defeats and five losses.
Pachuca got a tough draw in the playoffs up against 2nd-place Tigres. They lost 4-2 in the home leg as goalkeeper Mauricio Seral had an absolute stinker, which killed off any hopes of an outside title push. And a 5-2 away loss brought the season to an end.
Analysing A Season Of Two Halves
Rasamu had enjoyed a strong start with Pachuca, lifting them out of the bottom three in Apertura then securing a playoff spot in Clausura. But his big point of pleasure was the performance of the young prospects he’d put faith in.
Case in point is Montaño who, when Rasamu arrived at the club in October had scored one in 11. He finished the season with 19 in 36 so, under Rasamu he scored 18 in 25. Likewise, Bennette had scored 2 in 10 when Rasamu arrived but finished the season with 14 goals and 8 assists in 34 games. But Rasamu’s main passion project was the exciting Fernández, who’s scored 6 and got 6 assists in 21 appearances – and he doesn’t turn 17 for three months.
Pachuca’s youngsters had performed superbly in the second half of the season. But there could be even more to come as Rasamu’s first youth intake delivered three players with at least 4.5-star potential. The pick of the bunch is goalkeeper Juan Manuel Olvera along with right-back Mario Moreno, centre-back Joab Tadeo and strriker Adrián Tolama.
Rasamu fully intended to continue evolving his squad in the summer, moving out players he didn’t fancy and likely promoting more youngsters. But a big cause for concern is the finances, as their wage spending is resulting in the club losing around £600k per month.
Could Rasamu rebuild the Pachuca squad for even more improvement in the 2031/32 campaign? Join us on Monday to find out!
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