In other news Francisco Mendoza, the kid from Chivas USA is here to stay. He was presented today as part of the team. Aaron Galindo officially joined the team in Guadalajara after taking a few days out to sort out a few things with his old team Eintracht Frankfurt such as his living situation over there, etc.

Those are all the transfers for Chivas because the window is now closed for Mexican football.

Out
Sergio Santana
Antonio Olvera

In
Carlos Ochoa
Sergio Amaury Ponce
Francisco Mendoza
Aaron Galindo
Jared Borgetti
Technical Team: Omar Arellano Sr.

So what do you think of the business we’ve done?

However, we are down in that tournament after this week’s loss at home. Worst of all is the away goals rule. Anyways we’ll see how we do or our season will be definitely over.

The Lineups against Indios looked like this:

Guadalajara

30 Hugo Hernández
6 Omar Esparza
20 Édgar Mejía
4 Héctor Reynoso
29 Juan Ocampo (YC 13′) (Antonio Olvera 48′)
18 Xavier Báez
11 Ramón Morales
8 Marco Fabián (Édgar Solís 78′)
10 Alberto Medina (YC15′)
21 Sergio Santana (Sergio Ávila 68′)
9 Omar Arellano
DT Efraín Flores

Indios

13 Cirilo Saucedo
2 Juan Carlos Franco
3 Juan de la Barrera
24 William Hernández
25 Sindey Balderas (YC 54′)
7 Andrés Chitiva (Jorge Rodríguez 62′)(YC 85′)
8 Tomás Campos
15 Edwin Santibañez
23 Manuel Pérez (Julio Frias 68′)
26 Juan ramón Curbelo (Daniel Campos 34′)
9 Carlos Maggiolo
DT Héctor Hugo Eugui

First half we scored in the 29th by Marco Fabian. It all started with a lovely build up by Santana who went around the goal kepper and then back heeled the ball back to the youngster who stared down the ball and put it in the back of the net. Lovely indeed.
We went in for half time up and then the players found out what they needed to do to get into the short tournament.
Out the players came and scored in the 66th again with build up from Santana but scored by Medina. After, it was a whole bunch of missed chances and time dwindled away as did our hopes of classifying on our own. The game ended and all we could do was wait until today to see the results of Morelia and Toluca. And well as you know they didn’t turn out favorably and so here we are betting everything on the Sudamericana. Come on, please boys. Win this weekend. We’ve been without a trophy for a while now. Have a safe flight.

This deal comes as a surprise as only a few weeks ago, the player claimed to have no interest in playing in the America’s. His mind was changed according to de la Torre based on his previous days’ experience of training with the team, the installations, and his observation of the game against River Plate. If the deal goes through he may play at the Jalisco Stadium Saturday evening against Los Indio de Ciudad Juarez.

Now the game against Puebla that seemed to guarantee our entry into the Liguilla seems to be behind everyone. Several players were rested Sunday for the anticipated game against Inter on Wednesday night. Efrain Flores is taking the blame for the teams bad performance but he is not entirely to blame. Everyone, including the young ones were so sure of themselves they once again underestimated the opponent.

Puebla

1 Jorge Villalpando (YC 49′)

2 Óscar Rincón

24 Sergio Jiménez

58 Óscar Zea

44 Adrián Sánchez (YC 30′)

7 Sergio Rosas (Juan Hernández 82′)

15 Cesáreo Victorino

14 Luis Manuel Noriega

17 Walter Vilchez

13 Álvaro González (Fabiano Pereira 71′)

9 Walter Peralta (YC 13′)

DT Mario Carrillo

Guadalajara

30 Hugo Hernández

6 Omar Esparza (Javier Hernández 66′)

20 Édgar Mejía

33 Mario de Luna (YC 26′)

29 Juan Ocampo

17 Antonio Olvera

5 Patricio Araujo (RC 39′)

13 Sergio Ávila (Sergio Santana 59′)

8 Marco Fabián

15 Jesús Padilla (Omar Arellano 59′) (YC 74′)

10 Alberto Medina

DT Efraín Flores

The captain, Pato Araujo received a red for a terrible tackle which was more of a result of anger more than actually trying to get to the ball. Before that, both goals had already been scored and it showed that our defense was full of inexperienced players. In the very end(91st min) it was Sergio Santana who gave us the consolation goal.

After the first leg in Argentina, we seemed comfortable lead of 2-1 with the away goal rules. Yes, there were still 90 minute left in the game but Chivas was in the mindset to win and advance.

Guadalajara

30 Hugo Hernández
6 Omar Esparza
4 Héctor Reynoso (YC 56′)
20 Édgar Mejía
16 Édgar Solís (Marc Fabián 46′)
5 Patricio Araujo (YC 39′)
7 Gonzalo Pineda (Alberto Medina 46′)
18 Xavier Báez
11 Ramón Morales (Antonio Olvera 71′)
9 Omar Arellano
21 Sergio Santana
Efraín Flores

River Plate

1 Juan Marcelo Ojeda
4 Paulo Ferrari (Rodrigo Archubi 76′)
2 Gustavo Cabral
16 Raúl Quiroga
3 Cristian Vallagra (YC 74′)
8 Matías Fernández
5 Oscar Ahumada (YC 6′)
11 Matías Abelairas (YC 24′)
10 Diego Buonanotte (YC 53′) (Gustavo Bou 62′)
9 Radamel Falcao
13 Sebastián Abreu
Diego Simeone

The game finally started with much anticipation. From the very opening seconds of the game River let Chivas know what they were there to do. Quickly they set themselves up for the attack and Chivas gave away a free kick. Reynoso should have received a yellow for the foul but since it was early in the game the ref let it slide. The River free kick was sent out by the wall and now Chivas had to worry about a corner. Unfortunately, they did not worry enough because it was only the second minute and Chivas were down 0-1. With this scoreline they would advance due to they away goals rule but they had to be very cautious now.

The game continued with River looking dangerous. In the 9th min Pato Araujo had to leave the field to get his head bandaged.

Our right side looked weak and River soon noticed and they got us again. It was the 20th minute and we were 0-2 down at home. There was absolutely nothing that Hugo Hernandez could do about Falcao’s shot to the lower right side of his goal.

The 28th minute showed a small fight break out between players as Buonanotte fouled Esparza and the latter retaliated. Somehow the whole group got involved and the already dirty game became more tense.

In the 42nd we had what should have been a penalty. River’s Ojeda clearly held on to Santana as he went into the area and wrapped his arms around him preventing Santana from getting the ball into the unattended goal. The ref didn’t mark this and tension mounted again.

The first half showed a bad Chivas. They constantly fouled, were overtaken by a River side, and were not working as a team. It was bad, bad, bad.

For the second half Edgar Solis and Gonzalo Pineda were taken out for Alberto Medina and Marco Fabian.

During the 59th we showed some signs that we were going to continue fighting for our place in the semi finals. We scored by a nice effort by Omar Arellano who received a long ball, looped it over defender, which fell to Marco Fabian who slotted it in. 2-1 and we were going to penalties.

Minutes later we again achieved what we were meant to do. It was the 64th and we tied 2-2 thanks to a play by Arellano to Medina who scored. With this score we were guaranteed to go through and we only had to endure the time that was left.

The rest of the time Hugo Hernandez became confident again and his performance was elevated. Time after time he made saves that kept us in the game. Any other scoreline would not have meant penalties. It was do or die. River continued to look dangerous and with 4 minutes of extra time it was worrying. The back line of the Chivas players seemed tired and let go of ball after ball. Finally it all ended.

We were lucky enough with the result because at any time, River could have easily made it 3-0, 4-0, etc. Fortunately, in the second half their finishing went down and Chivas played a bit better. Overall, it was down to luck and for a while Hugo Hernandez.

The game had definitely been tense and it showed all the way to the Managers. Both Efrain Flores and Diego Simeone were sent away during the course of the second half and on the field it was not much better having foul after foul.

Now, we face Internacional de Porto Alegre during the semi finals of the Sudamericana. Scheduling changes however pose a problem. With our possible qualification into the Liguilla we face squad depletion because of the short time in between games. Add in our international players that are sure to be called up for the games against Ecuador on Nov. 12 and the ever important World Cup Qualifying match for Mexico at the end of the month and we’ve got a problem.

A match report from a different perspective is also up here.

Lineups
Guadalajara

30 Hugo Hernández
6 Omar Esparza
20 Édgar Mejía (Sergio Santana 56′)
4 Héctor Reynoso
19 Jonny Magallón
16 Édgar Solís
5 Patricio Araujo
18 Xavier Báez
11 Ramón Morales
9 Omar Arellano (Omar Arellano 74′)
10 Alberto Medina (Marco Fabián 67′)
Manager Efraín Flores

Atlante

3 Federico Vilar
2 Javier Muñoz Mustafá
4 Luis Venegas
6 Gerardo Espinoza
8 Alan Zamora
15 Arturo Muñoz (César Fragoso 85′)
19 Mariano Trujillo (AM 89′)
28 Fernando Herrera (Ismael Valadez 67′)
18 Christian Bermudez
11 Luis Gabriel Rey
17 Daniel Guerrero (Raymundo Torres 42′)
Manager José Guadalupe Cruz

We won against Atlante 1-0 thanks to a goal by Sergio Santana in the 60 min. Overall we did quite well and after the first half the score was 0-0. Despite it being a goal less draw it was still very entertaining as Chivas was constantly attacking and looking very threatening.
I didn’t get to watch most of the 2nd half due to a school function but I did see the goal and having become a rarity, I say it was spectacular. I didn’t watch much after that to be honest,

Four players did get yellow cards. Edgar Ivan Solís (20′)
Héctor Reynoso (45′)
Xavier Ivan Báez (87′)
Ramón Morales (90′)

Now, during midweek we get to play River Plate down in Argentina for the Copa Sudamericana. River are coming off a 1-0 defeat to Boca Juniors so it will be interesting to see how this game goes down.

And Sunday night EL CLASSICO. Come on boys, clip those eagles’ wings!