The long, long wait is over for Dundee fans – the Mexicans are here!
Over a month has passed since the deal for Antonio Portales was confirmed.
Diego Pineda then followed on July 7.
However, it’s taken until today to get all the paperwork sorted, everything in order and to get the two players halfway across the world to Dens Park.
Portales and Pineda arrived at their new home stadium to take part in an open training session in front of curious fans.
But what can the duo bring to Tony Docherty’s team?
Courier Sport has done some digging to find out.
Last season – Clubs
Both players plied their trade in the second tier of Mexican football last term, Portales with Atlante and Pineda at Correcaminos UAT.
Now, we should provide some info on how the second tier in Mexico works at the moment – due to the Covid pandemic and financial issues, promotion and relegation was suspended by the football association for six years.
This was to ensure the division, now called the Liga de Expansion MX, survived and clubs were properly run.
There are 15 teams and the season is split in two – the Apertura and Clausura – with each team playing each other home and away in each before play-offs determine a champion.
Atlante and Portales won the most recent Apertura after finishing second in the regular league campaign but succeeding in the play-offs. They finished third in the Clausura but were beaten in the semi-final by eventual winners Tapatio.
Atlante and Tapatio would then face each other in the Campeon de Campeones Final (Champion of Champions) with Tapatio winning 3-2 on aggregate in May.
Pineda’s UAT, meanwhile, finished down in 13th in the first phase and 12th in the second.
Last season – Individuals
Individually, Portales had a strong campaign.
He played 45 times in total, scoring nine goals. His final strike was a penalty in the Clausura semi-final defeat to Tapatio.
Thanks to our partners StatsBomb, we’re able to dig down into those nine goals.
Four of those came from the spot. Of the other five, four were headers and the fifth came from a corner.
As well as a goal threat, we’ve seen from videos that Portales likes a tackle. Last season, though, he showed more than just that.
Compared to the rest of the division, Portales was well above average in heading, tackling, interceptions as well as passing stats. Notably below average in fouls conceded, too.
If he translates that form to Scottish football, Dundee are getting an all-round defender with a goal threat.
Pineda, meanwhile, had a far quieter campaign with just three goals in 16 games for UAT.
His chance conversion was low but he was busy in the opposing penalty area and managed plenty of shots on goal.
The striker’s previous season, however, was more impressive. His first spell at UAT finished with six goals in 12, third top scorer in the Apertura, before he moved to Atletico Morelia where he won the Clausura.
Antonio Portales and Diego Pineda have played together
Portales and Pineda spent two seasons together between 2018 and 2020. Portales, the younger of the two by one year, was on loan from top-flight Monterrey at Pineda’s Atletico San Luis.
In the first season, San Luis won promotion to the top division, Liga MX, after winning both phases of the competition with Pineda hitting five goals in 35 games.
During those two campaigns Portales played 23 times and scored once. Overall Pineda scored seven times in 45 appearances in those two campaigns. In his four seasons there he scored nine in 72.
Career paths of Dundee’s Mexicans
Portales began his career at Monterrey in 2014-15, a huge club in North American football. They won three consecutive North American Champions Leagues from 2011 to 2013 and won it twice more in 2019 and 2021.
He didn’t, though, manage to break into the first team and played just three league matches across four years.
He would then join Pineda at San Luis before returning to the second tier with Alebrijes de Oaxaca and then to Atlante.
Across his career he has played 140 games and scored 14 goals.
Bienvenido Antonio Portales #vamosdundee 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/wv32teVswT
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) June 16, 2023
Pineda’s history is a little more colourful, certainly on the international front.
His club game started with top-flight America but eventually he dropped to the second tier. Across his seven-year career he has played 142 games and scored 22 times.
He was, however, part of a successful Mexico youth squad.
In 2015, a squad that included Hirving Lozano, now a Serie A champion with Napoli, won the CONCACAF U/20 Championship, the North American equivalent of the Euros.
Pineda was largely a sub, though he did play 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Haiti. He found the net in a 2-0 win over Canada, securing victory in stoppage time.
The then-youngster was an unused sub in the final, however.
Thanks to that Mexico would qualify for the U/20 World Cup in New Zealand that same year with Pineda called up to the squad.
They would finish bottom of their group, however, with Pineda an unused sub throughout. Topping their group was Serbia, who would go on to beat Brazil in the final.
So there are plenty of positives in the backgrounds of Antonio Portales and Diego Pineda – how they adapt to Scottish football, we’ll have to wait and see.
But in the words of Portales himself: “Vamos, Dundee!”
