C.F. Pachuca beats Club Leon in third-ever friendly at Miller Park

The conditions were perfect for soccer at Miller Park on Wednesday.

The weather was a pleasant-as-can-be 72 degrees at the opening whistle of the friendly between Liga MX teams C.F. Pachuca and Club Leon. And thanks to a bang-up job by the Milwaukee Brewers' grounds crew, the pitch held up beautifully for Pachuca's 3-1 victory.

The festive atmosphere made it easy to forget that the match was being played at a baseball stadium, despite the outline of the diamond and pitcher's mound, which were sodded over earlier in the week.

The crowd of 18,321 fans soaked everything in. Miller Park has hosted two previous soccer matches, with 31,237 attending Chivas Guadalajara-Swansea City in 2014 and 21,256 in 2015 for Atlas FC-Newcastle. 

Rabid fans

Gabriel Coronado of Racine has attended all three of the soccer matches at Miller Park. He described himself as a fan of "the Mexican League in general."

Coronado, 25, was in the stadium an hour before the match started and was hanging out by the visitor's dugout with the hopes of snagging a few autographs.

Luckily for Coronado, Pachuca midfielder Jorge "El Burrito" Hernadez poked his head out from the dugout. They made eye contact and Coronado flipped him a hat to sign. 

"I follow him because he was with the Mexican national team," Coronado said. "He's one of those players who is always on verge of making the cut for the World Cup."

Autograph secured, Coronado headed to his seats for the match.

"It's pretty cool to see the atmosphere," he said. "It's not really too common."

About fifteen minutes before the opening whistle, a large contingent of Leon supporters paraded along the walkway of the lower-level seats, waving large flags and blaring trumpets. 

They settled into the seats of a section along the first-base side of Miller Park. A drum joined the brass instruments, building up the excitement until a Milwaukee mariachi band played both the American and Mexican national anthems.

Up-and-down action

Leon fans were on the edge of their seats for most of the first half as Pachuca mounted several attacks but couldn't get a shot on frame.

The action was far more frantic in the second half.

Pachuca finally broke through when Erick Aguirre took a pass from Sebastian Palacios and fired the ball into the upper left corner of the goal.

After a few near-misses, Leon was able to notch the equalizer in the 66th minute when Walter Gonzalez corralled a bad Pachuca clearance and easily found the back of the net.

Pachuca snatched the lead back for good at 2-1 a few minutes later on a strike from Franco Jara. 

Christian Gimenez closed the scoring with a beautiful strike on a free kick just after the game clock hit the 90-minute mark.

"It was a good field, you could play any type of game. Great pitch," Pachuca midfielder Victor Guzman said through a translator. 

Back to baseball

Despite a steady drumbeat and loud pleas from its fervent fans, Leon could never put together a comeback.

Still it was a beautiful night for "the beautiful game" in Milwaukee, even if the friendly had the lowest attendance of the three soccer matches at Miller Park. 

"We are so impressed with the stadium and the way the guys look after positioning the (field)," Pachuca manager Pako Ayestarán said. "Top class. Great atmosphere, the way they looked after us."

Soon the pitch will disappear and the grounds crew will have to get the field baseball-ready by the time the Los Angeles Dodgers arrive to face the Brewers on July 20.