Tag: Chivas

Chivas win first Liga MX title in more than a decade

A title that proves a homegrown team can still succeed in a time of big-money foreign acquisitions

Though the first leg of the Liga MX Clausura final ended 2–2, it seemed that reigning champions Tigres had taken control. Chivas jumped out to a 2–0 lead, but Andre-Pierre Gignac, the Frenchman who has been a dominant force in Liga MX, scored twice in the final 10 minutes to destroy their momentum.

Entering the second leg, Chivas, the only club in Mexico that exclusively fields Mexican players, had not won a Liga MX title since 2006. Before that, they hadn’t won since 1997. Before that, they hadn’t won since 1987. And before that, they hadn’t won since 1970, which ended a run of eight titles in a span of 13 years—Chivas’ golden age in a very different footballing world.

Now, facing the poster boy of foreign influence on Mexican football, the country’s most popular club faced what could have been another painful failure. Instead, Alan Pulido scored just 17 minutes into the second leg. Then Jose Vazquez added what would be a necessary insurance goal in the 70th minute, leading to what would be a 4–3 aggregate win for Chivas, sealing their 12th Liga MX title to match Club America for the most ever. And since Chivas had already won the Copa MX, it gave them just their second double in club history—the only other coming in 1970.

Much of the credit for this success goes to manager Matias Almeyda (though Chivas’ players must be Mexican, their managers can be Argentinian). After the match, he had his squad kneel down around the trophy and pray before celebrating.

It was an unusual sight, especially in a modern game where the only thing football clubs bow down to is money. But the gesture was a fitting one for a club that still adheres to old traditions that go against contemporary practices.

Of course, if the pattern of the last 47 years is anything to go by, Chivas supporters better enjoy this celebration, because it could be their last for a while.

Andre-Pierre Gignac scores absurd equalizer in Liga MX final

You don’t need balance when you’re this good

 

Chivas were leading Tigres 2–0 in the first leg of the Liga MX Clausura final, but then Andre-Pierre Gignac happened. He scored his first in the 85th minute, then, just three minutes later, he chased down a long pass that slipped through Chivas’ back line, hopped over the goalkeeper like Super Mario over a turtle shell, and lobbed a shot into the empty net at a tricky angle while falling backwards.

That made it 2–2, completely swinging the momentum to the Apertura 2016 champions going into the second leg.

Gignac now has nine goals from his last 15 shots. Not matches. Shots.

The man is unstoppable.

Chivas’ Carlos Fierro performs sneak attack on goalkeeper to score late winner

Puebla’s goalkeeper may never live this one down


With Chivas and Puebla even at 2–2 late in added time, 22-year-old Chivas winger Carlos Fierro went into ninja stealth mode. He lurked behind Puebla goalkeeper Cristian Campestrini and as soon as Campestrini dropped the ball on the ground, Fierro pounced. He swiped the ball and had Campestrini crawling on his hands and knees after him like a toddler on a frozen lake.

Fierro scored with relative ease, giving Chivas a 3–2 win. This was his first goal of the season.

Campestrini, meanwhile, must now change his name, dye his hair and take up a new profession. One where he can keep his back to a wall at all times to ensure that no one can ever sneak up behind him again. This is how lifelong paranoias are born. He might even start wearing a helmet with rearview mirrors attached to it.


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Chivas went a little overboard celebrating a win in a poorly attended friendly against Boca Juniors

When marketing ploys go spectacularly wrong

(Chivas)

On Thursday night, Chivas Guadalajara hosted Boca Juniors in a friendly billed as the DUELO DE GIGANTES (duel of giants). The marketing campaign used to promote this match was rather intense—billing it as an event to decide continental supremacy (again, this is a Thursday night friendly).

ÉPICO or not, one would think that a visit from a massive club like Boca Juniors would pull in the fans and be an enjoyable evening for everyone, but when the match began, it looked like they forgot to unlock the doors at Estadio Chivas.

(Chivas)

That’s embarrassing. And, as expected, it drew a fair bit of ridicule from the internet (particularly from Club America supporters, who were likely rankled by that “continental supremacy” talk).

Regardless of the attendance (or lack thereof), Chivas went on to win in a shootout. Good for them! But then the overblown pageantry continued when they brought out a stage and fired up the confetti canons and blasted Queen’s “We Are The Champions” to present the team with what looked like a replica of the UEFA Champions League trophy as the 12 people in the stands looked on.

When your club hasn’t won a Primera Division title in 11 years, I guess that trophy party trigger finger gets a little itchy.

Seeing all of this inevitably brings us back to the original question of “What the hell was this match anyway?” And the answer is apparently pretty simple.

If they do this again maybe they’ll just call it the Duelo De Divertido.


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