Chivas fall to Benfica for second defeat in the ICC

Chivas’ last result before they open up their 2019 Apertura season was as disastrous as anyone could have imagined despite playing a solid game. The men led by Tomas Boy were defeated in Santa Clara, CA by Portuguese side Benfica in Guadalajara’s second International Champions Cup game after having dropped the first one versus Serie A squad Fiorentina.

The schedule of this game didn’t seem to make a lot of sense for Chivas. They had to travel straight from the Bay Area to Torreon to take on Santos Laguna in their season opener tomorrow. Today, Benfica took the early lead in the fourth minute of the game and never looked back. The Portuguese squad scored on a play which Raúl de Tomás tapped the ball into the back of the net after a cross inside the box from Caio to give them the 1-0 advantage.

Chivas produced several opportunities to tied things up. In the 42nd minute, Odisseas Vlachodimos saved Miguel Ponce’s header inside the box. Then early in the second half, Chivas would get two more cracks at the Odisseas goal; Alexis Vega’s shot in the 48th minute which the Portuguese goalkeeper easily saved. One minute later, Ponce created another opportunity, but his shot from outside the box hit the corner of the woodwork.

The team from Jalisco continued to play much better football than their Portuguese counterparts in the second half. Vega nearly tied it for Guadalajara when his shot attempt also hit the crossbar in the 60th minute. Despite their efforts, things quickly fell apart for Chivas in a matter of minutes when Benfica scored two goals to give the squad from Lisbon a comfortable 3-0 lead which would turn out to be the final score.

The result does not reflect the way that Chivas played on the field today. Their fans should be optimistic as players like Oribe Peralta, and Isaac Brizuela will be fully rested to take on Santos Laguna, a team known to give Guadalajara a very tough challenge.