BEFC vs Pumas
The competition against Pumas resumes!! In the season before our promotion BEFC chased Pumas for most of the season for the first spot, only to fall off in the final games and drop to 3rd. Pumas boasted a very strong attacking force which was wracking up all kinds of damage to D2 opponents. Our record against them in 11s is much more simple: 1 win and 1 loss, both games ending one - nil. In sevens however Pumas have continually won the tournament and we are normally pitched against them every time. In the last Seven competition we did our best yet reaching the final, but losing to Pumas late on in the game.
The D2 Pumas were a young, fast and skilful team, but from our perspective a little bit soft. They suffered from this immediately when they joined Division 1 and I remember talking to their Captain about the step up and difference they were dealing with. It took them a lot of games to adjust and they avoided relegation with the last match of last season. However Pumas are also a team, like us, hell bent on improving and over preseason went about recruiting who they needed to harden up the squad. They are definitely going to be challenging Division 1 this season and they also have the bonus of being supported by the TML. What is meant here is they recruit from TML Futsal sessions where they practice but also their players manage.
Since we played Pumas in TML13, BEFC have also become a lot better too! And in our last match against them, despite losing 0 - 1 we spent 60 minutes in their half hitting the crossbar, post and any other way to not actually score. Our last match up was very much in our favour for performance and without the stronger team we have now. This makes this game a very interesting match up to see how both teams have evolved.
Pumas have the headstart of a season in Division 1, and a nice bit of recruiting. They have even shown the trademark of D2 Pumas by smashing Swiss Kickers 9 - 0, and that speaks a lot for what you can expect from Pumas if you are not on your top game against them.
Our start to Division 1 though has shown much less adjustment than Pumas took and we have also already performed strongly against last season's top 3 teams.
Games versus Pumas are always intense high action games, so this one we hope can be a Division 1 classic for the early part of our campaign.