1998: This was the first year we participated in the tournament. In pre-group stages we had to battle it against Venezuelan teams Atletico Zulia and Caracas. Our long-hated rival America was also put into the group. Both Mexican teams managed to make it out into the group stages to join Brazilian teams Germio and Vasco De Gama. Unfortunately, we only won 2 games in the group stage and lost 4, eliminating us from the tournament.

2005: We came back for the tournament in 2005. During this year we made it to the quarters by beating out Pachuca, only to meet Boca Jrs. next. Of course, everyone remembers those games. The ones where we won 4-0 at home and handed Boca a devastating loss. The Argentinians didn’t seem to like that very much and the famous incident at the Bombonera happened. You know the spitting from the Argentinean coach and Bofo being escorted out by police? Yeah, that one. We fell to Paranense in the semi’s but Bravo came away as one of the leading scorers in the tournament with 6 goals.

2006: We did well in 2006 coming in 2nd in group A with 12 points. We met Santa Fe of Columbia in the round of 16, Velez Sarsfield in the quarters, but were beaten 4-0 on aggregate by Sao Paulo.

2008: In 2008 we went directly to the group stages and came up against Santos of Brazil, San Jose of Bolivia, and Caucuta Deportivo of Columbia. We didn’t make it farther than the group stages and only collected enough points to get 3rd place in the group.

2009: We got into the group stages of the 2009 edition by winning the InterLiga. This year we have Lanus of Argentina, Everton of Chile, and Caracas of Venezuela.

Our first game is against Lanus of Argentina on Wednesday February 11th. Traditionally as you can see we’ve done really well against Argentinian teams so let’s hope that that tradition continues. I’m predicting a 3-1 win for Chivas.

Guadalajara

1 Luis Michel
17 Sergio Amaury Ponce
33 Mario de Luna (Marco Fabián 64′)
4 Héctor Reynoso
20 Édgar Mejía (Javier Hernández 74′)
5 Patricio Araujo
18 Xavier Báez
13 Sergio Ávila (Gonzalo Pineda 69′)
11 Ramón Morales
10 Alberto Medina
27 Carlos Ochoa
DT Efraín Flores

Morelia

23 Moises Muñoz
3 Alberto Lucio
7 Marvin Cabrera
26 Mauricio Romero
13 Fernando Salazar
16 Adrián Aldrete
27 Omar Trujillo
5 Wilson Tiago
11 Hugo Droguett
18 Andrés Mendoza (Miguel Sabah 83′)
77 Elías Hernández (Oscar Rojas ‘72)
DT Luis Fernando Tena

Friday we played against Tigres and won 4-2. Which is how we arrived to one of the semi finals against Monarcas of Morelia.

The game was full of scares, I’ll admit. In the 14th Reynoso passed back to Michel who was caught off his line. Luckily Araujo ran back and saved from the line.

Immediately we went in a counter attack in the 16th with Ochoa’s ball going with Ramoncito who fired close.

By the 20th, I was getting nervous because Morelia was attacking a lot and it seemed like a goal was soon to come from them.

Medina was also having a really good game and his runs were causing trouble on the other side of the field.

In the 30th we had a chance when new boy Amaury Ponce passed to Medina who fired wide.

On to the second half.

In the 52nd Ochoa was itching to score and he was alone on a header but it was too weak

Then in the 53rd Venado had an excellent shot but the Morelia keeper got a hand on it to keep it from going inside.

De Luna was looking good in the defense which brings up the question: What are we going to do with Magallon, Reynoso, Galindo, and De Luna when they’re all healthy?

In the 57th Ochoa scored…for the wrong team. In a corner he was indecisive and that led to a goal by Morelia. We were 1-0 down. Droguett celebrated it like his own goal(fair enough, it looked like an olympic goal) but it wasn’t. It was an own goal.

The 61st a Morelia player came up to Michel and had a one on one but luckily Reynoso ran back and saved the ball from going in for another sure goal.

In the 65th, seconds after coming on Fabian scored from outside the area to put us on level terms. This kid is on fire and the goal was simply amazing. 1-1.

Then it was all over and we were going to penalties. Despite being up a man for 25 mins Chivas failed to take advantage of this fact and decided to go to this.

First up was Carlos Ochoa. He calmly tucked it into the right. He was why we were here tonight anyways. His own goal.
For Morelia Tiago came up first smiling and looking like he was having a good time. For him the good time ended seconds later when he misfired his shot high into space.

Our number two was Fabian who cane up and hit it with all his might. Munoz got a hand on it but the shot had too much pace.
The Cabrera came up and converted his penalty for Morelia and had Michel going the wrong way.

Then Reynoso came up and I was nervous. He proved me wrong as he put the ball into the very tippy top right corner.
Rojas then came up against Michel and made it 3-2. Michel guessed right but the shot was too fast.

Pineda stepped up and made the ball go into the top of the goal with much speed. We were a step closer.
Golden ball Droguett then stepped up and Michel started to play mind games. He came without his gloves and carefully put them on and took some more time loosening up. Apparently, these rituals worked because Droguett had his shot stopped by Michel, giving us the Mexico #2 place in the Copa Libertadores.

The game ended 1-1(5-3). We ended up Champions of the InterLiga ahead of Pachuca and $1million richer(prize money).

This tournament was good for us. We’ve clearly seen that the team has jelled well together and the new boys(Ochoa and Ponce) have integrated well into he team. We still have to see about Galindo but he should be good since he knows how the Mexican football league is.

Our next game is against re-runners-up Cruz Azul on January 17th at home for the start of the Clausura 2009.

Now…we need to start grooming a youngster to take Ramoncito’s place permanently because he disappeared for large portions of the game. This is understandable…he’s getting older(33).

Guadalajara

1 Luis Michel
17 Amaury Ponce
33 Mario de Luna
4 Héctor Reynoso
20 Édgar Mejía
11 Ramón Morales (Francisco Mendoza 87′)
5 Patricio Araujo
18 Xavier Báez
8 Marco Fabián (Gonzalo Pineda 52′)
10 Alberto Medina (Sergio Ávila 72′)
27 Carlos Ochoa
DT Efraín Flores

Atlas

21 Pedro Hernández
30 Darwin Chávez
16 Hugo Ayala
53 Néstor Vidrio
23 Eduardo Rergis
19 César Ibañez
18 Darío Botinelli
8 Lucas Ayala
9 Gonzalo Vargas
17 Jorge Achucarro
11 Bruno Marioni
DT Darío Franco

It started out with our rivals/roomates Atlas. Previously we had come from a 1-1 draw with America that had left us on level terms with our old rivals and it was necessary to win the game to keeps hopes alive to qualify for the next round of the Interliga.

We had done well in the pre-season and now it was time to get the ball rolling.

In the 20th minute we saw ourselves up in the scoreline after an Atlas defender stuck his had in the are. Ramoncito Morales neatly put the ball into the back of the net for the 1st goal of the night. He had a great game.

Unfortunately, in the 75th Atlas equalized via Marioni after Michel had pushed away a previous shot. They were equal.

The 77th minute gave us excitement. “Gaucho” Avila has ups and downs but this play was a high. He came from the right, took two defenders off his back, and gave to Ochoa to score. Exciting, exciting! Hopefully he keeps that level and we will have a killer player. And remember, he’s still young.

In the 83rd Avila again made his way with Ochoa and gave the assist for the 3rd goal. Ochoa took it, saw the keeper on his own and coolly shot the ball into the goal as if he were doing it just for fun.

This a good start to a new season. I think our team is working well together and the defense seems at ease. Michel has been performing well despite his long absence, although we’ve got Hugo Hernandez and he is a good back up.

Our next game is against Tigres on January 9th at the Home Depot Center, home of our sister team Chivas USA / The LA Galaxy.

1-1 against America and 3-1 against Atlas…not bad for the first Classico’s of the early, early season.

First, on Tuesday it was announced the Carlos Ochoa would be joining Chivas on loan from Monterrey for the InterLiga, Clausura 2009, and Apertura 2009. For Ochoa this would be the 8th shirt he wear in Mexican futbol. We’ll see how it goes and at the end of the year we have the option to buy him.

Guess what?! Arellano is joining the team. We already have him, you say? That’s crazy. Well, you’re right. I’m talking about Omar Arellano Nuño, the current players’ daddy. He’s spent some time in Spain with Atleti and Javier Aguirre and now he’s come back to join the technical team. Mini-Arellano said that the relationship on the team would not be of father and son, but of two professionals. He also said he is happy to have his father there because they have never been able to work together. This will be an interesting relationship to watch develop.Hopefully, Mini’s goals will increase thanks to help by Dad. Besides, two Omar Arellano’s can always be better than one, right?

On December 22 there will be a charity match for the young kids of Iraq in Milan, Italy organized by La Organización Mundial por la Paz. Omar Arellano and Guillermo Ochoa of America were both invited to play in the match and Arellano was guaranteed 10 mins of playing time. The reason for inviting these two was to show that the football rivalry can transcend and help those in need and they were both chosen as the Mexican representatives. Efrain, told him no. The reasoning? Chivas are in preseason training and allowing Arellano to go would ruin some of the work planned and both agree the team comes first. Some of the world’s greatest stars will be at the match and an oldies game played by the stars of the 90’s will be played beforehand and will feature Jorge Campos. Some of the current stars set to play?
Carles Puyol, David Beckham, Iván Córdoba, Alessandro Nesta, Roberto Abondanzieri, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Alessandro del Piero, Drogba, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Raúl González, Steven Gerrard, Carlos Tévez, Francesco Totti, Javier Zanetti, Álvaro Recoba, Paolo Maldini.
Too bad, it would have been a great opportunity.