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.

This was America’s little brother. They’re not supposed to have put up such a fight. But they did, and it wasn’t what we expected.

Guadalajara
1 Luis Michel
17 Amaury Ponce (Francisco Mendoza 63′)
4 Héctor Reynoso
19 Jonny Magallón
20 Édgar Mejía (Jesús Padilla 72′)
20 Édgar Mejía
16 Édgar Solís (Marco Fabián 54′)
18 Xavier Báez
5 Patricio Araujo
11 Ramón Morales
14 Javier Hernández
21 Jared Borgetti

DT Efraín Flores

Necaxa
12 Jorge Bernal
18 Luis Valdez (Pablo Gabas 77′) (Marvin del Cruz 90′)
4 Diego Cervantes
2 Pablo Quatrocchi
14 Mario Pérez
23 Joel González
7 Eduardo Coudet
17 Marco A, Gómez
9 Alfredo Moreno
10 Federico Inzúa
61 Luis F. García

The first minute started out well. Jared Borgetti got his first start with Chivas and he had a shot on goal right away. And Johnny Magallon was back!

At the the 5th min, not too long into the game, we were showing good team work. Everyone was meshing well together and we were getting to the Nexaca side quite a bit.

The 8th min foreshadowed what was to come for the rest of the game. Michel stopped a shot by Alfredo Moreno who got away from Reynoso.

Right away in the 9th, “Chicharito” Hernandez had a chance but a Necaxa player got in the way.

During the 14th, Michel saved us again on the line from a shot by Moreno. He had it out for us.

In the 21st “Chicharito” made a case for a penalty call but the ref waved the play on and Tepa Solis followed up with a power strike.

By the half hour mark the attacks by Necaxa were becoming more frequent and our were becoming rarer.

In the 31st we had a really good build-up with Tepa Solis going in from the left, the Ramoncito got it, the Xavi Baez, but it all ended in failure but it was a nice play by Chivas.

In the 35th we made it into Nexaca’s area again. Solis crossed the ball with Chicharito lunging forward for the ball while Borgetti hung back and looked on.

Again in the 41st Borgetti missed a chance as Chicharo crossed the ball only for one of the greatest goal scorers of all time to miss the opportunity.

Finally, the first half ended and the game went by quick. There was much action and both sides were lucky that it was still 0-0. The passing was sloppy but we were holding it together.

I’m sure all the players came out resolved to win the encounter. It certainly seemed that way in the 51st min when Chicharo headed the ball but it only went behind him.

In the 64th Moreno did some damage as he took away a long ball that got away from Reynoso. It was 1-0 for Necaxa.

Right away in the 65th we had an opportunity. Jared Borgetti, possibly the best heading expert in the biz missed. He hit the ball with his shoulder and failed to get us a sure equalizer.

The 83rd gave us a free kick. Master of all masters, Ramoncito Morales took it and made the most spectacular goal. His hit went towards the right of the goal, hit the post and rebounded in off the keeper. We had a 1-1.

Nothing much occurred after that. Fabian did have an opportunity in the 85th but it was slightly outside the goal.

Ramoncito saved our hides with that free kick. I love him, he’s my hero. Chicharito also impressed me with his never ending raids into the opposing area. He definitely deserves a look over and more inclusions with the first team. Johnny Magallon despite being out for a while hasn’t lost much of his level. He played well tonight and he can only get better with more competition for his spot.

Now the team will be heading for Argentina on Sunday for their game against Lanus on February 11th for the Copa Libertadores.

These definitely include the stars of tomorrow.

The games will take place all around Guadalajara and if you happen to be in town, it’s something worth checking out. For more info go to .

In other news Carlos Ochoa, Alberto Medina, and Marco Fabian have been included in the final list for the game against Sweden on January 28th. They will have to present themselves to the national team on Sunday.

Some bad news. Johnny Magallon who is currently getting better after breaking his arm in October has been given the news that he will not be able to play the game against the US in Columbus on February 11th. He still has an estimated 3 weeks until his rehabilitation is done and he’s part of the 7 starting members of the national team that have been ruled out for the game.

And remember. Saturday we play against Tecos. We will be looking for a win to push us ahead in the group after the 3-3 draw against Cruz Azul.

I predict a 3-1 win for Chivas with goals by Ochoa, Fabian, and Medina. The 3 golden boys of the moment.

With Morales coming back injured we said goodbye to our captain and perhaps the most experienced player for this match. Luckily, it didn’t seem like we missed him too much. A win at the Azteca stadium seemed a bit daunting especially since we were away from home. A win would give us 3 much needed points, but a draw wouldn’t have been too bad either. A point is a point and it would have helped on the table. Anyways we started with
Guadalajara

30 Hugo Hernández
6 Omar Esparza (Alberto Medina 56′)
20 Édgar Mejía
4 Héctor Reynoso
19 Jonny Magallón
16 Édgar Solís
5 Patricio Araujo
18 Xavier Báez
8 Marco Fabián (Gonzalo Pineda 52′)
9 Omar Arellano
21 Sergio Santana (Sergio Ávila 64′)

and America with
1 Guillermo Ochoa
15 Jesús Sánchez
2 Ismael Rodríguez
5 Enrique Vera
6 Sebastián Domínguez
4 Oscar Rojas
20 Alejandro Argüello
25 Juan Carlos Silva (Juan Carlos medina 46′)
8 Federico Insua (Juan Carlos Mosqueda 79′)
7 Alfredo Moreno (Enrique Esqueda 68′)
9 Salvador Cabañas

Up to the 10th min we constantly attacked and troubled America’s defense. Solis also came down on the edge of the area and we were awarded a free kick which flashed across the goal.

In the 11th Arellano scored a goal which could have gone in as easily as not. It came off a cross/shot from Santana and we were up 1-0.

During the 24th minute Arellano and Fabian had a good combination up front but the moment was wasted by Fabian who fired a weak shot, one that could have done more damage.

The 26th min saw danger in our area. An America player played the ball in to our area with so much pace that as it rebounded off the top corner of the post, the “crack” was clearly heard. In the process Hernandez hit his jaw and had to be treated but was luckily able to continue.

Unfortunately, bad luck landed in our area when a corner headed by Dominguez went into goal. He had two defenders on it but our tallest, Reynoso, was overcome by him anyways. Hernandez dove the right way but was unable to get to the ball. It was the 32nd min and we were level 1-1.

In the 39th Araujo received a yellow for a foul on Insua.

Another scare in the 40th as Salvador Cabanas rounded the goalkeeper and scored but he was offsides. Still, it scared me.

So, half time came and the game was exciting. The constant attacking by Chivas had been welcomed although America slightly leveled after their equalizer to make it more of an even game. Despite the young age of the squad they were coping in the big game.

In the 2nd, the line up stayed the same for our side.

In the 5th min there was a great build up by Fabian and the shot rebounded and was shot by Santana. He was offside and he sent it over goal but it was a good effort.

The 7th min saw a HUGE mistake from America in which they missed a goal due to bad communication. Or confusion. It seemed like they were defending on the wrong side of the pitch.

11th min and Esparza went out injured and Medina came in.

The same minute saw an incredible save by Hernandez on a shot by Magallon which could have easily been an own goal.

19th min Santana came off for Avila.

In the 26th we saw an incredible goal again by Arellano. He ran and shot the ball over Ochoa for a spectacular shot and the 3rd goal this week.

The 44th we saw Magallon go out injured and it seemed like he hurt his arm as he was carried off in the little ambulance car. We had no more subs left and we were down to 10 men for the remainder of the game.

So, the game ended and we won 2-1. A great win away from home and a good addition to our points tally. Arellano scored both and it seems like its become a tradition to scored in the Classico’s for his family(both his grandfather and father did as well in their day). Hernandez didn’t have as great as a performance as he did in Argentina but then again America didn’t have as many great of shots. I was impressed with this game as I usually am with all the other classico’s but hopefully this week was a turn around to a winning streak.

The only bad thing, terrible thing actually, is that Johnny Magallon fractured his arm in a Michel-esque way. So he’ll be about for 2-3 months. Out of La Liga, Sudamericana, and El Tri. I wish him speedy recovery because he is a player that we’ll definitely miss. A rock that one.

An update on the Nery Castillo saga. It’s not only the players who don’t want him to come, it is him as well. At the time he has no desire to play in the America’s. My message to him: If you were regularly playing in Europe with Man City great. But unfortunately my friend you are not. It doesn’t seem like the time to be picking and choosing where you want to play. Wherever you can get minutes seems adequate. But perhaps Vergara will stop seeing as how Arellano has had some great performances this week. You missed out and we will gain from it.