An Uphill Battle as Chivas Treat Guests With Care

By: Andrea | November 13th, 2008

While a well versed blogger had us winning this battle, it seems like we decided to play nice and make our guests eager to come back in the future. I’m pretty sure the feelings won’t be reciprocated on the 19th of this month when we head down to Brazil.

We all know the story with Chivas. They put you on a high on moment, give you a few headaches and heart attacks in between, all to finish it off with a nice flair of disappointment. Yesterday night was no different. We went into the game feeling confident. We had of course disposed of River Plate and we were on home turf. What did we have to worry about? Sven hadn’t called up any of our players and it seemed like we were throwing ourselves whole heartedly into the competition. It all made for a bigger disappointedly in the end.

Lineups

Guadalajara

25 Hugo Hernández
6 Omar Esparza (YC 25′) (Alberto Medina 46′)
20 Édgar Mejía (YC 77′)
4 Héctor Reynoso (YC33′) (Sergio Ávila 75′)
3 Juan Ocampo
18 Xavier Báez
5 Patricio Araujo (YC 21′)
16 Édgar Solís (Marco Fabián 57′)
11 Ramón Morales
9 Omar Arellano
21 Sergio Santana
DT Efraín Flores

Internacional

22 Luro Batista
3 Marcos de Lima (YC 38′)
5 Pablo Guiñazú (YC 72′)
6 Marcos Skavinski
8 Edimo Ferreira
9 Nilmar Honorato (Taison Barsellos 83′)
10 Alex Mescchini
11 Marcos Rodrigues
13 Fabian Guedes
17 Andre Luiz (Rosinei Adolfo 85′)
24 Álvaro Maior
DT Tite.

Already in the 5th minute Inter came up with a good shot only to be called offsides seconds later. However, it did provide us with a glimpse of Hernandez’s great abilities.

Again in the 12th we were attacked and another great save by Hernandez saved our skin. The Inter player lofted the ball over Hernandez who was already on his knees, only for him to somehow stretch up and block the ball with his fingertips.

In the 19th we had a good chance with 3 of our players in the Inter area but a good save by their goal keeper saved them. Right after in the 20th min, Pato Araujo continued his disciplinary problems from the weekend and tackled a player right outside the Inter area and gave away the ball as well as received a yellow card.

The 27th turned out to be a moment of the game as a counter was started by Chivas which led to Arellano being right in front of goal only to miss because of a hit by a defender. Up until now this would have been a sure 1-0.

In the 29th there was a scramble in the Inter box and the Chivas players once again missed their chance to put away the goal and make a change in the scoreline.

The 43rd min proved to be full of panic as Inter scored but were called on a dubious offsides.

Again in the 45th min Arellano came up alone on a header only to miss another opportunity. This was by far the clearest of the game.

Then in extra time in the 46th we were awarded a free kick only to have it taken away because there was not enough time left.

Overall we had a really good first half. Our defense had looked decent, Hernandez looked superb, we were pressuring Inter quite a lot and it felt like any little improvement would make a difference during the 2nd half. By this time we would have been able to be up at least 2-0 but misses from Arellano had prevented that from happening.

The 66th min again could have seen us go up. None other than Omar Arellano, missed the goal.

Then we became unlucky as Inter scored their first goal in the 70th min. They were 1-0 up.

The 72nd min turned to to be a hair pulling moment. We had 3 players(THREE!) in front of the goal and none had been called offsides. But of course all of the missed as the ball flew in front of them it seemed like all 3 were stuck to the floor as they were unresponsive.

In the 78th Inter took advantage of us and they added another to make it a 2-0 lead.

The end went blah because Inter were happy with their lead and Chivas could not afford to go down any more. The first half we played very well but we fell apart in the second. Arellano went from being a hero to being a villain in this game. There are still 90 mins left to play as we down to Brazil next Wednesday but we also have to hope that by then Sven doesn’t decide to call up any of our players.

On Saturday we play Indios and that game is a determining factor on whether we qualify for the Liguilla or not. If we don’t,well the copa Sudamericana seems to have become a little more difficult. If we lose either then we lose any chance of gaining any silverware this season. And well, that seems to have the case very often.