¡ Si Se Puede!

By: Edgardo | April 11th, 2008

Sorry for being away, i had visitors and had been busy with school and work (for a change) but finally made it back.

Anyways, the headline mean, yes, it can be done. It’s still possible, with some self-help, and some outside help, but it will be tricky.

BUT JUST WHAT IS IT?

maza scores

Why, it’s qualification to the next round of the Copa Libertadores. But before i go into the details of what needs to happen so they qualify, i want to talk about the game against Santos.

Chivas got off to a very quick start, attacking early and often, having Santana score , only to be overruled by an offside call. Chivas broke the ice with a play reminiscent of six year olds playing as two Santos defenders (Fabão and Domingos) go up for a header and instead collide and set up Omar Arellano.

The next goal stunned me so much because of several curiosities that it deserves it’s own paragraph. First off, Alberto Medina received a pass, and LOOKED UP. Secondly, after receiving said pass and seeing a couple teammates in the box, he didn’t lower his head and run for the end line. Instead he sent an ACCURATE CROSS to a teammate (the bolded are things he just can’t seem to do.) Thirdly, Francisco Javier (I’m just calling him Maza from now on) joined the attack (like Omar Bravo’s 99th goal) and was in the box when it wasn’t a set play. And fourthly, he scored a goal with a high degree of difficulty. Don’t get me wrong, i don’t think he’s the hack people make him out to be, but Maza isn’t a guy you associate with goals like that.

The euphoria in Guadalajara took a hit when Magallón(credited to Kleber) scored an own goal on an awkward play where no one seemed to know what they were doing or what was going on (another defensive blunder, if you will.) The third Chivas goal was amazing again, because Medina sent another good cross to Sergio Santana (who looks very revitalized this year) as he headed it in. If onyl Medina would cross like that every game instead of running as fast as he can and kicking off of defenders, he could be real dangerous on the right, and easily make it back to the national team. But for some reason the only thing he can do well consistently is run really fast and really aimlessly.

The second Santos was a goalkeeping blunder on Michel’s part, who didn’t set up the wall, or himself correctly. After that, the game because somewhat of a mess, although Medina had the chance to make it a dream night but narrowly missed. It was a pretty good game, especially for about the first hour or so.

Not only was this a pretty good game, but it also had a half time tribute for a man known as Edson Arantes Do Nascimento in front of his former team, in a stadium that saw him dazzle the world in 1970.

With this win, Chivas will head to Bolivia to play San José , who has received 11 goals in the past two games, and seems to really be struggling. That’s the easy part. A win in Bolivia will move up to 9 points, which could be enough to move into second place. The deal is , Santos has 7 points, and a win gets them through no matter what, and if Chivas were to tie and Santos to lose, Santos has a much better goal differential (thanks to the 7-0 mauling of San José), unless of course, somehow, Cúcuta wins 7-0 in Brazil - which is what makes it trickier. Cúcuta has secured the first spot, while santos is playing for their lives and at home - which makes the whole Chivas advancing thing so much more difficult.

But you know what, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings.

So please, whatever you do fat lady, please don’t sing.