Match preview: Guadalajara vs. Tijuana

Game: Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A. de C.V. vs. Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente

Date: Wednesday, October 30th

Time: 11:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 p.m. Central, 8:00 p.m. Pacific, 4:00 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Akron (Zapopan, Jal.)

Referees: REF: Oscar Mejia Garcia, AR1: Andres Hernández Delgado, AR2: Karen Janett Diaz Medina, 4TH: Aldo Cano Martinez

Television: United States - None; Mexico - TUDN, Azteca 7

Streaming: YouTube

All-time record: Tijuana holds the all time record across all competitions, winning ten to Guadalajara’s four with the clubs drawing four times. The clubs have only met twice outside of Liga MX play, with each team winning once in two Copa MX games. The last time the teams met, Chivas beat Xolos 2-0 to open the 2019 Clausura back on January 5, 2019 at Estadio Akron.

Photo by Gonzalo Gonzalez/Jam Media/Getty Images

Tijuana (6W 3D 5L) needs to get a result to keep their Liguilla hopes going. They’ll head to Guadalajara to face Chivas (4W 4D 6L) who are far on the outside looking in. Xolos sit in the eighth and final Liguilla spot, but their hold is tenuous. Going into the week they were just one point clear of Morelia and their -3 goal differential could come back to haunt them.

Xolos will look to improve on a dismal road record of 2W 0D 5L. The good news is that in their last match out against Veracruz they were able to put together a solid team performance and get their offense two goals against a team that tried desperately to park the bus. If Tijuana can develop some consistency from all facets of the team they could go into the Liguilla and make some teams really uncomfortable.

Photo by Alfredo Moya/Jam Media/Getty Images

Chivas on the other hand needs to win and hope for Xolos and a few other teams to falter to keep their slim Liguilla hopes alive. At five points out with three games left to go it will take a miracle for them to get in. Alan Pulido’s seven goals lead the team, but no one else on the team has more than two. Oribe Peralta, who was brought in from arch-rivals Club América over the offseason, hasn’t scored at all for El Rebaño Sagrado.

Quite simply, this match will be a true test to see if Tijuana belongs in the Liguilla or not. If they can go on the road and pick up a victory against a vulnerable Chivas team then they may just be the playoff-caliber team they were predicted to be at the beginning of the season. If they can’t, they’ll be looking to answer some tough questions going into the offseason.