Chivas’s costly first half leads them to a 2-1 defeat against Toluca on Saturday afternoon at the Estadio Universitario Alberto "Chivo" Córdoba for the ninth match date of the 2016 Apertura.
Toluca broke through in the second minute on a deadly counter that came from a Chivas corner. The young center back pairing of Hedgardo Marín and Juan Miguel Basulto couldn’t trouble the attackers on the counter as forward Fernando Uribe slotted the ball into the net and beyond Rodolfo Cota. Collectively, the play was broken as it resulted from a corner with not one of Matias Almeyda’s men able to latch on to it.
Cota had another instance of failure as he conceded the penalty that led to the second goal. Toluca was dominating on attack and overwhelming the Chivas back line at various instances in the first half, and Pablo Barrientos was brought down in the box. Barrientos doubled the Diablos Rojos’ lead in the 38th minute.
With the back line having trouble containing any offense from Toluca—Marin earning a yellow on a 35th minute Toluca counter and Basulto getting spun around on the build up that led to the penalty—Almeyda saw fit to make changes at half time. Alan Pulido entered and scored his first goal for Chivas in the 76th minute after being assisted by Brizuela. Brizuela’s assist continues his good run of form while Zaldivar had a touch on the ball prior to Pulido’s reception.
Toluca nearly scored a 3rd if it weren’t for the hustle of Orbelín Pineda to get back and clear it off the line after a poor decision from Cota to come off his. Basulto, who had a much-improved performance in the second half via a few dispossessions, finished off the clearance effort with Pineda.
Chivas won’t have time to dwell on this loss, as a Tuesday night showdown with Tigres awaits them on September 20th.
Rodolfo Cota: 4
Hedgardo Marín: 4.5
Juan Miguel Basulto: 5.5
Edwin Hernández: 6
Jesús Sánchez: 6
Javier López: 5.5
Orbelín Pineda: 7
Ángel Zaldívar: 6.5
Carlos Cisneros: 6
Isaác Brizuela: 6.5
Michael Pérez: 6
Substitutes:
Marco Bueno: 5
Nestor Calderón: 6
Alan Pulido: 7