Chihuahua Savage, two-time MASL champion
May 1, 2024 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Chihuahua Savage News Release
By Oscar Sánchez
Mexico's largest state also has the most powerful team in the Major Arena Soccer League: Chihuahua Savage.
The "Salvajes" beat the Kansas City Comets 5-4 and won the MASL two-time championship, to the joy of a packed Corner Sport Arena, which supported its team at all times, even to the rhythm of live mariachi.
With the score at 4-4 and only 1:20 seconds left, Hugo Puentes took the ball on the left side of the area and in a half-turn he scored from goalkeeper Neto, to score the difference.
"What I am experiencing is what you dream of as a child, being a champion in a professional team, I am very grateful to God because he allows me to be a two-time champion," said Puentes, who added two points in the game and was also elected the Most Valuable Player of the Final, "the MVP belongs to all my teammates, it's not just mine, I was given the chance to score the winning goal, but this is a team effort."
The Comets were a worthy finalist and although they lost game one at home, also by the slightest difference, they arrived in Chihuahua with an apparent suit of victims and during the development of the game they were torn from them.
In fact, they took a 3-1 lead in the third quarter and entered the final period tied 4-4. The duel was intense and exciting from start to finish.
"It's a final, and with that culture they have they will never give up anything for lost. I told my players that it wasn't going to be easy, maybe two or three thought it would, and they already saw that it wouldn't. It wasn't nothing easy this season, but we won the cup, imagine how I feel. I am very happy with my players, they worked hard and they deserve it," said coach Genoni Martínez, who took the team with the tournament underway and took it to the final crowning.
The Savage in this way achieved the second title for the franchise "back to back", after the previous season, 22-23, also defeated the Baltimore Blast in two games.
"The key has been the determination (of the team), because we have been down on the scoreboard and we have not given up, "Geno" (the coach) always tells us that we cannot do it any minute of the game, and that was the what happened," said Kristian Quintana, a defender who joined Savage at the end of the tournament and from being in the last places with Dallas, ended up champion in Chihuahua.
MASL commissioner Keith Tozer awarded players from both teams one by one on the Corner Sport field, where an elegant red carpet was laid out for the ceremony.
Bryan "Flaco" Macías and Roberto Escalante took the Ron Neuman Cup and flanked by the rest of their teammates and members of the organization, they carried the trophy amid a shower of confetti and with an arch with the word champions as a frame.
They now have an 11-1-0 record playing in the Corner Sport playoffs, and no American team has been able to beat them at home at this stage.
Genoni has now been champion as a coach for the second time in his career and with two different Mexican teams, since he had also won the title in the 14-15 season with Monterrey. He is considered the best Mexican player in the history of indoor soccer and now he is also the most successful mexican strategist.
Chihuahua, with its two-time championship, is placed in the second place of the top winners in the history of the MASL, which dates back to the 2014-2015 season, tied with the San Diego Sockers and just one championship away from equaling the top champion, Baltimore.
The match was broadcast around the world via the important international streaming networks, CBS Sports Golazo, with narration in English, and via Canela Deportes with commentary in Spanish.
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Major Arena Soccer League Stories from May 1, 2024
- Chihuahua Savage, two-time MASL champion - Chihuahua Savage
- Comets Fall in Game 2 of MASL Finals - Kansas City Comets
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