45 posts tagged “chivas”

In every league in every sport there are derbies.  You know what I'm talking about, the kind of grudge games that build up in the whole city or country that are one of the highlights of the season. 

In Mexican football, there is none bigger than the América (águilas, or eagles) vs. Guadalajara (chivas, or goats) rivalry.  The 200th version of that game was played last Sunday, and my beloved Chivas won.

The most rewarding part of the whole experience is when we look at the league table, where Chivas is at the top (having lost one game in their whole league campaign) and América at the bottom (having won only two in their worst season in history). 

Chivas's Copa Libertadores campaign hasn't been so good, but there is still a chance to qualify to the knockout stages of that competition too.  Needless to say, I'm a happy Chiva congelado.

5 games, 4 wins, no defeats.  And with goals like those below, we can dream of the title.

My beloved Chivas lost in the Mexican Clausura 2007 championship semifinals against eventual champions Atlante.  Their history has taken a remarkable turn for the better this season.  Founded in 1916 in Mexico City, the "Team of the People" had fallen on hard times, as followers became few and far between.  An attempted move to Ciudad Neza to get new supporters didn't work, and they had to return to ever more empty seats at the Aztec Stadium.  This year, to improve their luck, they decided to move to Cancún.  Their results improved considerably, their local stadium is continuously full and the team played very well both in the regular season and in the playoffs.  Congratulations!

América, on the other hand, lost the final of the Copa Sudamericana against Arsenal de Sarandí.  They were completely schooled during the second leg at home in the Azteca, and even though they won away it was not enough.

Furthermore, Pachuca lost their first and only match in the Club World Cup.  After having a wonderful few years, winning the Mexican championship multiple times, the Copa Sudamericana and the CONCACAF championship to qualify to Japan, they underlined their terrible second half of 2007 with a disastrous performance against Étoile Sportive du Sahel, the African champions.

There is rumours that more Mexican players will move to Europe in the winter, with Héctor Moreno from Pumas UNAM going to AZ Almaar, therefore joining Carlos Salcido in the Dutch Eredivisie.

Let's see what new surprises there are in the new year.

And Chivas lost again, this time the National Derby against América...

Hope the team finishes their chances next time, as according to the reports in the media they played better than their opponents for long stretches of the game, but ended up losing 2-1.

And Chivas lost against Arsenal de Sarandí at home for the second leg of their knockout tie in the Sudamericana Cup.

Chiva Congelado suffers...

I wrote before that Chivas sacked their previous coach "Chepo" de la Torre and put Efraín Flores in charge.  With the same men, my team has not lost a game since and just trashed Necaxa 5-1 last night.

Besides deciding to bring the game to the opposite team instead of playing only on the counter, he has shown great vision in giving more responsibility to youngster Sergio "Gauchito" Ávila.  The kid has answered with some great performances and determination to seize his opportunity.  Now let's hope he does what is expected of him as Sergio Santana hasn't been that good playing in the hole between the strikers.

Some of my readers may wonder why I haven't posted about Chivas, the football club I follow.  The reason is simple: there hasn't been much to post about.  After the end of last season, it was a him or me between the coach and "Bofo" Bautista, and the coach won.  However, the team played horribly and after a string of very bad, unsuccessful games, including a defeat last Wednesday agains DC United in the Copa Sudamericana, has meant that "Chepo" de la Torre has also been let go, even if he took the team to their first championship in 9 years last December.

The team obligingly won their first game under the new coach, against Veracruz.  However, I'm not sure if Sergio "El Gauchito" Ávila is ready to step in the shoes of "Bofo" day in and day out even if yesterday he proved he's definitely first team material.

Chivas lost for the 3rd time this year against our most bitter enemy.  América's goalkeeper Ochoa has definitely developed, and this time around their tactical execution was much better than ours (that the refereeing was awful didn't help much).

Chiva Congelado suffers...

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In other news, Mexicans Ricardo Osorio and Pável Pardo have become Bundesliga Champions with Stuttgart.  They join the likes of Carlos Salcido, who just won the Eredivisie with PSV.  We hope that Rafael Márquez of Barcelona also wins, with three matches to go.

Chivas finished a job well done to kick out Tigres, in a very bizarre match that included 3 penalties and 2 own goals last Saturday.

We meet América this week in the semifinals.  They're rather angry because last time around we beat them and took the championship.