Chivas late goal stuns America, wins the first leg of playoffs
It feels like it was scripted to give excitement, but that is what the beautiful game is all about. Passion, exhilaration, and leaving everything on the pitch to show the world what you are made of, especially in playoff contention where every second matters. All of this, as nearly 6-thousand fans, attended a Chivas home game for the first time since March 14th. That is exactly what El Clasico Nacional was all about in the Liga MX quarterfinals’ first leg. Let’s break down tonight’s matchup.
The first 45 minutes of the match had some excitement, but a lot more momentum from Las Aguilas. The history this matchup brings is like no other in any league out there, and you can be certain the fans of these two teams from all over the world were watching. The clear favorite for tonight was Club America, and they showed why with their first-half statistics. They owned 57 percent possession of the ball, eight shots on goal, five of those on target, they gave Raul Gudiño a run for his money. The Chivas keeper stepped up big, blocking some shots and proving his worth. Guadalajara fell short with having five shots and none on target, and only 43 percent of the ball’s possession. Las Aguilas did receive a yellow card at the 36th minute of the match on Santiago Cáseres for a bad foul. The ref blew the whistle, and both teams headed scoreless to the locker rooms for halftime.
America is stunned in Akron
The second half started, and right away, Chivas changed the match’s momentum, taking complete control of the ball. Victor Manuel Vucetich’s men also created more chances and managed to get into the box more often, becoming the more dangerous team. Guadalajara made several key sub-ins at the 54th and the 55th minute of the match. They kept surprising and cutting up plays that kept Las Aguilas on their toes. Surprisingly Miguel Herrera did not like that at all and made some modifications of his own. He brought in three subs; One at the 63rd minute and two in the 71st minute as they needed to regain some momentum.
Even with those changes, it was not enough for them to hold off las Chivas Rayadas. Just after a sub in at the 73rd minute and a yellow card for Oribe Peralta for a bad foul came what seems to be the breather that the home team desperately needed. In the 81st minute, Cristian Calderón took a spectacular left-footed shot from outside the box to the top left corner making the score one-nil.
Piojo Herrera’s men kept pushing but could not find the game-tying score even as the referee gave an additional five minutes of extra time. In the end, Club America would not score, the final whistle blew, and the home team took the victory. Chivas has the aggregate lead, and the next match will be played on Saturday, November 28th, to see who moves on to the semi-finals.
