Pumas women's team, "a slow but steady process": Leo Cuéllar

▲ Ariatna Dorantes and Liced Serna join UNAM looking to take the team beyond the quarterfinals. Photo @pumasfemenil

Alberto Aceves

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, August 16, 2025, p. a10

Leonardo Cuéllar, former soccer player and former coach of the women's national team, knows that soccer demands time. He's not surprised by the impatience and level of pressure that fans like Pumas generate during games, but he's partly convinced by an idea, championed by Brazilian coach Marcello Frigério, to take the felines to the Liga MX semifinals for the first time.

"It's been a slow process, perhaps, but a sure one in terms of discipline, commitment, and taking firm steps toward professionalism. We've taken it upon ourselves to follow their ideas. The next step is to reach the semifinals and pull off an upset this season; we have a plan for that," stated the university club's women's soccer coordinator during the presentation of Liced Serna and Ariatna Dorantes, the new members of the squad.

From the first season to the current one, Pumas advanced to the quarterfinals nine times and was eliminated each time. The board of directors, led by president Luis Raúl González, along with the technical council formed by Miguel Mejía Barón and Cuéllar, decided to sign Frigério in 2023, considering his experience in the Chinese Super League (Changchun Volkswagen Excellence), Brazil (Gremio de Porto Alegre), and national teams such as Equatorial Guinea and Paraguay.

With the addition of Serna and Dorantes, in addition to the core of players who only lost two matches in 17 rounds last season, the UNAM representative team filled the vacant positions in midfield and attack for Sunday's match against league leader América at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario. With six rounds of matches and one game remaining, the felines are in fourth place, still unbeaten.

“Being at Pumas means a lot. It's a big, united club, and that's why I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to be here. They did well last season; they're one of the leading teams in La Liga,” Dorantes declared at a press conference. Like the 22-year-old midfielder, Colombian Serna highlighted the felines' vision to transcend the final phase of the tournament beyond the quarterfinals.

“The most important thing about coming here and making the decision is that there's a process that begins before us and points us toward where we want to go,” explained the Colombian national team member, having learned from the recent loss to Brazil in the Copa América women's final. “It's always good to join a team that wants to compete for something big.”

In addition to Serna, six other foreign players are part of the university squad: Costa Rican Cristina Torres, Colombian Wendy Bonilla, Paraguayan Fátima Acosta, Ecuadorian Nayely Bolaños, as well as Americans Angelina Hix and striker Stephanie Ribeiro, who currently has three goals to her name.

AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, August 16, 2025, p. a10

Cincinnati. Belarusian world number one Aryna Sabalenka fell 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters to Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, who eliminated Mexico's Renata Zarazúa in the second round.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion, Rybakina dismantled the women's tour leader with extremely efficient tennis and an unstoppable serve, winning 81 percent of her first-serve points. "I'm happy with my serve; it was the key today," said the winner.

Unrecognizable in both play and attitude, Sabalenka found no strength to rebel against Rybakina's bombardment and surrendered the first set in just 28 minutes.

The world number one thus failed in her attempt to become the first to retain the Cincinnati title since Serena Williams in 2015, and will now focus on defending her crown at the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, which begins on August 24 in New York.

The Kazakh, ranked number 10 in the world, will face Poland's Iga Swiatek on Sunday in search of a place in her first final of the tournament.

In the men's draw, world number two Carlos Alcaraz of Spain advanced to the semifinals yesterday by defeating Andrey Rublev. He will face German Alexander Zverev today, who defeated American Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-2, in a doubles match.

Alcaraz gritted his teeth for two hours and 17 minutes to beat Rublev (11) 6-3, 4-6 and 7-5 and thus seek his second Cincinnati final after the one he lost in 2023 to Novak Djokovic.

World number one Jannik Sinner of Italy is in the other semifinal and has enjoyed a positive performance, which has benefited him by not dropping a single set to his opponents, in contrast to yesterday's duel with Alcaraz.

"I'm proud to accept that I had to play the third set and that it would be a long battle. I love that," said the Murcian, who enjoyed his best moments in a first set that he dominated from start to finish, with an authoritative serve that allowed his opponent only one break point.

However, Rublev proved to be combative and once took advantage of a poor serve from Alcaraz to break back.

Rublev then wasted a point to force a tiebreak and shot himself in the foot with a double fault that tipped the match in favor of the Spaniard, who has reached seven consecutive semifinals.

The former world number one celebrated his fifteenth consecutive victory in Masters 1000 tournaments with several chest-thumps.

▲ Photo @AtlasFC

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, August 16, 2025, p. a10

Coach Diego Cocca returned to Atlas, the team he led to a two-time championship three years earlier, following the resignation of Mexican Gonzalo Pineda. The 53-year-old Argentine coached the red-and-black squad from 2020 to 2022, during which time they won the 2021 Apertura and 2022 Clausura tournaments. “Trophies are a thing of the past; now there's a different reality, a different squad, and a different challenge, which is to show that I have the ability to transform teams like we did that time. We have to work every day to build a competitive squad. We have a lot to grow and improve,” the coach said yesterday in his presentation.