He’s been fired with three games to go in the Apertura 2009. Arias is the second manager fired this tournament. Chivas won three games, lost three and drew one.

The administration hasn’t said anything yet.

Jose Luis Real is rumored to be the interim manager for the last games.

Keep watching as the drama unfolds.

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.

And……….

Chivas has a new manager. Yes, just one this time.

What’s ridiculous is that I have a “New Manager” tag for this blog. And I had it before this fiasco. Seriously, Chivas is a telenovela.

Chivas won the first Classico of this season. They did have a few issues. Again, as you can see, there was trouble on the defensive part. Chivas were also really lucky to have the equalizer given to them in the form of an own goal. The goal scored by Magallon was offsides, there really is no complaining over that.

Overall, not a spectacular game but one that should give Chivas momentum going into the weekend and last 10 games of the season. The thing about Mexican football is that you can be completely sucky and still qualify for the Liguilla as long as you place highly in your group which isn’t entirely too hard.

So the new manager is Raul Arias. He used to be the Necaxa coach before they were relegated.

According to Vergara it was a unanimous decision by the Chivas Football Committee to have Mr. Arias take over as manager.

His style is clearly defensive, but perhaps that’s what we need at the moment. Chivas have been giving up goals like it’s Christmas and a little more order at the back might be what they need.

Also, I think that Chivas have enough quality up top with Chicharo and Arellano(however long he stays healthy) that scoring should come on it’s own.

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.

Under Arellano’s care Chivas won 1 match, and drew 2.

Jorge Vergara has however asked Ramirez to keep some of the staff on the technical team and has suggested Arellano as assistant manager, his previous position.

Ramirez was suspended by FIFA for 2 games for giving USA player Frankie Hedjuk, a love tap.

Since taking over in 2002, Jorge Vergara has gone through 8 managers.