Yes, Chivas won. Yes, Chivas got the three points. Yes, Chivas kept a clean sheet.

But I’m still disappointed.

Guadalajara
1 Luis Michel
17 Sergio Amaury Ponce
3 Aarón Galindo
2 Mario de Luna
19 Jonny Magallón
7 Gonzalo Pineda
18 Xavier Báez
16 Édgar Solís (Édgar Mejía 69′)
11 Ramón Morales
99 Omar Bravo
14 Javier Hernández (Omar Arellano 46′)
DT Raúl Arias

Jaguares de Chiapas
11 Oscar Pérez
7 Oscar Razo (Am 40′)
5 Omar Flores
4 Marcelo Gandolfi (Hugo Sánchez 48′)
27 Ezequiel Orozco (Josiel da Rocha 56′)
20 Alejandro Argüello
26 Christian Valdez
21 Christian Álvarez
19 Neri Cardozo (AM 34′) (EXP 61′)
10 Danilo Verón
24 Oribe Peralta
DT Luis Fernando Tena

The quick highlights:

Raul Arias made his debut…and was sent off near the end of the first half for trying to get the stupid ref to let the medics on the field.

Sergio Amaury Ponce scored the lone goal on a wicked volley.

Johnny Magallon seems to be doing better up front than in the back.

Chivas kept a clean sheet.

So first…Chicharo collided with Gandolfi halfway through the first half. He seemed to feel the after effects of the clash and collapsed in the midfield. The Jaguares players were near him and quickly urged for medical help, but the referee refused the OPPOSITION team’s claims as well as those by new manager Arias and the players on the bench. Arias was sent off for trying to get help.

According to medical reports released by the club, Chicharo should be well and is recovering. He’s being kept under close observation at a hospital. Head injuries are of course taken very seriously especially since Carlos Sanchez from America had a brain hemorrhage after a similar clash in a game.

Alright so onto the game…You could definitely tell that there was a new style in the air. I didn’t like it. It was too boring. Lots of trying to counterattack and trying to defend. Although to be honest, the defending wasn’t going too well.

We knew that essentially that was Arias’ style, but really? That is not at all how Chivas is supposed to play.

And the defending…although a clean sheet was kept it was out of pure luck. Again, the defense was caught several times and the post saved Chivas too many times. That’s not good. Where’s the defense that’s supposed to be a part of the NATIONAL team? Where is that level? The back is all going through a though period. Everyone back there. Magallon, Galindo, Reynoso, Michel. Everyone.

Next up is Chivas USA in the midweek. Why Chivas are playing these idiotic friendlies is beyond me(although money is always the answer). What Chivas really need to to do is focus on the Mexican league and doing better there, not promoting the brand abroad.

“As a sign of sympathy towards Chivas and San Luis, who will not be able to take advantage of their home fields due to the outbreak of the H1N1 Flu that has been strongly affected Mexico, the Sociedad Deportiva Aucas has put their stadium at the use of both teams.”

The club from Ecuador has sent their proposal to CONMEBOL who is set to release their verdict of the situation this evening.

Also, while we’ll get Johnny Magallon back from injury, we’re also losing Reynoso.

Lucky week for him, isn’t it? He’s been handed a suspension and now he’s injured. He had a tear in his left thigh and is slotted to be out 12 days. No matter what his punishment turns out to be, he’d be out now anyways. The injury will also keep him out for the game against Indios where we’ll look to qualify to the Liguilla.

UNAM
125 Sergio Bernal
2 Efraín Velarde
3 Marco Antonio Palacios
4 Darío Verón
5 Israel Castro
7 Leandro Augusto
20 Ismael Iñiguez (Pablo Barrera 60′)
9 Dante López
10 Martín Bravo (Francisco Palencia 60′)
26 David Toledo (Juan Carlos Cacho 70′)
DT Ricardo Ferreti

Guadalajara
1 Luis Michel
17 Sergio Ponce
20 Égar Mejía
4 Héctor Reynoso
5 Patricio Araujo
6 Omar Esparza
18 Xavier Báez
7 Gonzalo Pineda
10 Alberto Medina (Marco Fabián 63′ )
14 Javier Hernández (Carlos Ochoa 63′)
11 Ramón Morales (Édgar Solís 71′)
DT Francisco Ramírez

Sorry for the crappy game report this week, but the game wasn’t very exciting. And not just because the fans were missing.

Chivas got the goal in the 21st minute. Ponce provided a nice cross to Chicharo who came in with a diving header to put Chivas up 1-0 in front of an empty stadium.

In the 72nd Pumas equalized, but their bad goal was voided. Dante Lopez had take the ball outside the pitch before giving it back to Palencia to put in the back of the net. The linesman ruled it void and the score stayed 1-0. It would have been interesting to see if the crowd would have had the same effect on that play during another game.

Again Pumas came in with the tricky ball over the line play in the 82nd. This time the ball had just gone over the line of the goal before Michel swatted it away. This was a legit goal and it was given to Pumas to make the score 1-1.

Pumas remain top of group 2 and now Chivas are 3rd behind Tecos with one point less. So it’s squeaky bum time.

Carlos Ochoa returned to play for a few minutes. He didn’t do much, but it was nice to see him in the first team again after his long time absence.

The next game will be in the Copa Libertadores against Everton in Chile on Wednesday. For that game Ramon Morales has been ruled out with a knock to his left foot.

América
1 Guillermo Ochoa
4 Oscar Rojas (AM 81′)
2 Ismael Rodríguez (AM 37′)
6 Juan Carlos Valenzuela
15 Édgar Castillo (Andrés Chitiva 77′)
13 Pável Pardo
5 Enrique Vera
18 Ángel Reyna
21 Enrique Esqueda
11 Robert de Pinho (Daniel Márquez 85′)
29 Jean Beausejour
DT Jesús Ramírez

America had the first chance of the game in the 3rd minute when Reyna came in with a high ball. Michel managed to get in his way and veer the ball off course to prevent them from scoring.

The rest of the time, up to the 15th minute, Chivas had many chances. In the 10th Arellano was going through on a long ball, but it extended too far and he was unable to keep up with it. Had he been able to, he could have been 1v1 with Ochoa. The next didn’t take too long, and in the 11th Morales crossed a great ball, but there was no one to meet it. Medina then in the 12th went in flying to a ball. Ochoa touched it by about a fraction of a second to prevent the goal.

Then in the 15th Arellano came up on the counterattack. He hit the ball with a little angle, but without too much direction. His ball went a little wide of the goal, but had Arellano crossed it more towards Medina who was coming up, Medina would have had an open goal.

Medina had a shot in the 32nd. He came up to the area surrounded by 2 defenders. He managed to shoot the ball, but it went straight on to Ochoa who took control.

Chivas had scared towards the end of the game. America got into the area and came close to scoring many times. After much jostling near Michel, Mejia managed to finally clear the ball.

At the end of the first half Arellano came close to goal. He rounded a defender and got the ball on his left foot. His shot went a tiny bit wide, but it would have been a great goal.

Chivas were dominating the first half with attack after attack. America was badly positioned and their title of best away team wasn’t holding up.

Back for the second half Chivas finally scored in the 68th. Ponce got on the end of a cross by Medina. He had no defender on him and managed to head the ball into a tight space between the post and Ochoa to put Chivas up 1-0.

In the 75th Arellano provided a good build-up. He rounded up the America defenders and left the ball for two other Chivas players, which was wasted.

One of America’s best opportunities came in the 78th. Michel stopped the ball, but his effort landed in front of Rodriguez. He managed to get through defenders and shot the ball with a lot of force, but it ended up going just wide.

After that not much happened really.

In the first half Chivas dominated, and had they tried a little harder their shots would have made the score higher. America were lost without their hitman Cabanas. They’re not even remotely the same without him. He is their Salvation(he should change his name to Salvacion instead of Salvador…).

Overall, I liked the team today. We played better than America and despite the change of Manager the team didn’t seem lost. Arellano played like a true professional despite the dismissal of his father. Morales did really well and provided alot of creativity but was taken off. The defense played well cutting off everything cleanly. Definitely need to work on the finishing though.

Unfortunately, Magallon came out injured and will miss the game against Pumas. He came back from injury in the Jornada 4, and this is the 2nd time he’s gone out injured in a game against America.

The win puts Chivas ahead of America and 2nd place of group 2 with 19 points making qualification into the Liguilla very possible.

The next game is against group leaders Pumas on Sunday, April 26. A win wouldn’t see us go top, but it would put us 2 points behind.

Guadalajara
1 Luis Michel
17Sergio Amaury Ponce
19 Jonny Magallón
4 Héctor Reynoso (AM 85′)
20 Édgar Mejía
11 Ramón Morales
7 Gonzalo Pineda (Patricio Araujo 62′)
18 Xavier Báez (AM 90′)
9 Omar Arellano (Sergio “Gaucho” Ávila 64′) (Omar Esparza 75′)
14 Javier Hernández
10 Alberto Medina
DT Omar Arellano Nuño.

San Luis
1 Adrián Martínez
2 Omar Monjaraz
15 Alfredo González
16 Michael Orozco (AM 90′)
19 Arturo Alvarado (Rodolfo Salinas 54′)
17 Ignacio Torres
23 Jesús Palacios (AM 89′)
14 Noe Maya (Jairo Patiño 77′)
21 Víctor Hugo Lojero (Néstor Bareiro 72′)
10 Tressor Moreno
24 Rodolfo Reyes
DT Américo Scatolaro

The game started out with Chivas knocking on the door first. Medina let a shot rip in the 2nd minute from outside the area. The shot hit Martinez’ crossbar but issued a warning.

Arellano Jr. got into the area and past a few San Luis defenders. His shot went just wide.

San Luis weren’t really looking dangerous, but they decided to try their luck in the 15th minute. Alvarado shot from outside the area, but the ball went above Michel’s goal.

Omar Arellano Jr. was trying to make his Papa proud when in the 29th minute he came against Martinez. He tried to shoot over the goalkeeper, but his shot went too high for what could have been a goal.

Finally in the 36th minute a good play starting from deep within the Chivas area gave Chivas their goal. Magallon recovered the ball and played it to Arellano. Arellano then gave it to Pineda who ran up the field and chipped it back to Arellano. Arellano played it in for Chicharo Hernandez who rose up against the San Luis defenders and headed the ball into the net. 1-0

During the second half in the 60th min Gonzalo Pineda who had just recovered from injury was injured. There was a clash between Pineda and Tressor Moreno and his knee lost.

In the 75th Arellano Sr. made a strange substitution. Sergio Avila had come in during the 64th minute for Arellano Jr. but was taken out in the 75th. Understandably, Avila did not look to happy as he did not seem to have any injury and he had not been playing terrible.

The last chance in the game for Chivas came in the 85th when Chicharo took a ball and tried to round a defender. He lost his footing and was swarmed by the San Luis team, and wasted the opportunity for what could have been Chivas’ 2nd goal.

San Luis who had a relatively quiet game had a chance in the 88th minute when they gave a powerful shot from outside the area, but it went wide of Michel’s goal.

So the game was pretty quiet. It wasn’t too exciting, but Chivas functioned well. There was great play between Hernandez and Arellano which is bad news for Carlos Ochoa who is currently at Chivas’ reserve team Tapatio A.

Some more bad news is that Aaron Galindo will be out for about 3 weeks after a muscle tear while away with the national team. Galindo didn’t start the game against Honduras because of an injury but was forced into action after Lopez was injured.

It’s funny, Chicharo Hernandez comes from generations of Chivas players. The Arellano’s are a Chivas family. It’s all family in this team folks.

The next game is against Atlante on April 11th away at Quintana Roo.