Chivas closes ICC participation with penalty kicks defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid
Chivas de Guadalajara played their final International Champions Cup game versus Atletico Madrid tonight in front of a pro-Chivas crowd at Arlington, Texas.
Despite playing in the home-type atmosphere, today was not a good day for Chivas. The team from Jalisco lost for the fourth consecutive time in as many games, including their 3-0 thumping at the hands of Santos Laguna. Guadalajara continues to leave their fans scratching their heads as El Rebaño Sagrado continues to struggle and has yet to find the winning chemistry under Tomas Boy.
After a lackluster start to the game, Raul Gudiño was forced to showcase his excellent skills with a series of saves during a stretch that lasted five minutes. Atletico nearly took the lead on Thomas Lemar’s shot from outside the box in the 19th minute. Gudiño, however, was able to stretch himself fully and punched the ball outside the goal. Two minutes later Alvaro Morata nearly scored but Gudiño once again stopped the shot, this time with his right foot. The third save of the sequence by the Chivas goalkeeper came on a Saúl Ñíguez shot on a Diego Costa assist.
It will be interesting to see how Tomas Boy reacts to Gudiño’s performance as the six-foot-five goalie had fallen out of favor in Guadalajara.
The game changed dramatically in the 24th minute when Marcos Llorente gets a red card after Alexis Vega steals the ball from him and he forces Vega down for a foul. The last man rule forces the referee to pull out a red card which left Diego Simeone’s team with ten men.
Despite being up one man, Las Chivas were unable to penetrate through Los Colchoneros’ defense and the teams went to the locker rooms scoreless.
The Spanish team subbed all field players at halftime, and that allowed for the introduction of Mexican International, Hector Herrera. El Zorrillo made his move from Porto to the Spanish capital after having spent the last five seasons in the Portuguese top flight.
Chivas would have their first opportunity of the second half at the hands of Javier La Chofis Lopez. The Chivas starlet was able to pull off a sweet strike that Jan Oblak saved.
When Chivas looked like the more dominant team on the pitch, Carlos Villanueva would get a second yellow card after fouling Angel Correa. Baldomero Toledo followed that by pulling the red card from his back pocket and just like that both teams were playing with ten.
In the 63rd minute, HH made his presence felt. The playmaker had a fantastic strike from outside the box, but Gudiño would once again save the ball with a spectacular dive.
Neither would be able to take advantage of the extra space on the field, and the rest of the game saw minimal opportunities created. Chivas controlled most of the possession by maintaining the ball 57 percent of the time. That, however, would not be enough as the game would end 0-0 at the end of regulation.
The game would go directly into penalties, and Chivas had the opportunity to win the game after being up on a Gudiño save. The dream of victory quickly collapsed after Fernando Beltran, and Alan Cervantes failed to convert to give Atletico Madrid the win in a penalty shootout.
The defeat leaves a sour taste in the mouths of the Chivas fans in attendance, and it also creates a more considerable amount of pressure on their head coach. If Tomas Boy and Guadalajara don’t get their act together and get a positive result versus Tigres this upcoming weekend, that could signal the beginning of the end for the Boy era.
