MACOYA, Trinidad (CMC) – Joe Public suffered a huge setback in their opening group match of the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday, when José Cárdenas created history with a beaver-trick that handed Santos Laguna a 5-2 victory. Joe Public, the reigning Trinidad & Tobago Pro League champions, matched the visitors in the first half to leave the match tied 2-2 at half-time.
But Cárdenas scored twice in the space of 11 minutes in the second half, and Juan Enriquez added a stoppage time strike to urge the Mexican club side to a comfortable victory.
Cárdenas became the first player to score four goals in a CONCACAF Champions League fixture.
Joe Public were playing catch-up from eight minutes into the battle, when Rodrigo Ruiz looped a ball into the area from the left side.
Francisco Torres controlled the ball on his chest, and passed to unmarked Cárdenas at the top of the box, where the forward sent a low, right-footed shot past Glenroy Samuel’s near post.
Fortune, however, favoured the home team, when Makan Hislop answered the call two minutes later.
He accepted a throw-in from the left-side, and given time and space, he launched a “daisy-cutter” from what seemed a harmless distance.
Inexplicably, Santos ’keeper Miguel Becerra miscalculated the flight of the ball, and allowed it to roll harmlessly into the nets.
Joe Public continued to come under pressure from the patient build-ups from the Mexicans, and they again conceded the lead in the 24th minute.
Again poor defending from Joe Public allowed Cárdenas to trap a pass from Oribe Peralta on the left side of the penalty area, and waltz through a sea of red shirts before rifling a left-footed shot to beat Samuel at his near post again.
Joe Public withstood another period of sustained pressure from the Mexicans, and levelled the match with a minute left before the break, after they were awarded a free kick, when José Olvera brought Miqueas Lewis down on the right side.
Trent Noel floated a diagonal ball to the far side of the Santos defence, and Hayden Tinto cut a ball back from the by-line in time for Japanese forward Yu Hoshide to arrive at the top of the box to unleash a left-footed rocket past Becerra.
The two sides went toe-to-toe inside the first 20 minutes of the second half, but Santos grew more dangerous with every passing minute.
Joe Public were almost powerless to prevent Santos from taking the lead again in the 66th minute, after Ruiz dribbled into the home team’s half of the field, and Cárdenas met his right-side diagonal ball just outside the penalty area, where he created time and space for a ferocious left-footed shot that left Samuel stationary.
The punishment heightened for Joe Public, when Ruiz continued to have things his way on the right side of the field, and floated an inch-perfect diagonal ball onto the edge of the six-yard box from where Cárdenas butted home in the 77th minute.
With the match drawing to a close, and Joe Public players running aimlessly around the field, Juan Enriquez completed the demolition job for the Mexican side in stoppage time.
This followed a Joe Public attack, which was broken down. Torres collected the clearance, ran into the opposition’s half of the field, and released Ruiz down the right side.
With the Joe Public defence flat-footed, Ruiz and Enriquez found themselves in a 2-on-1 attack with Kareem Young.
Ruiz sent another inch-perfect pass across the penalty area, and Enriquez easily slotted the ball into the net past a flailing Samuel.
Things will not get easier for Joe Public next week when they face Major League Soccer side Columbus Crew on the road in the United States while Santos travel to Guatemala’s Municipal.