Match preview: Chivas vs Pumas

Chivas might be facing their final opportunity to make it to the Liguilla when they face Pumas on Saturday at home. Pumas meanwhile have a great opportunity to get an away win against a struggling Chivas team. Pumas, whose win last year in Guadalajara against Chivas was the first since 1982, will hope to make it a two game win streak after getting their best win of the season when they defeated regular season leaders Santos.

In their last game, Chivas had one of the worst games in recent time when they were crushed by America 4-1. It was a disastrous performances marred by a horrible injury caused by their defender Antonio Briseño. Briseño got red carded after diving into Gio Dos Santos’ leg, slicing it open in one of the nastiest looking injuries in recent history of Mexican football. Luckily for Dos Santos, there was no fracture and he should be back in around six weeks, but the injury earned Briseño a 4 game suspension. New Chivas coach Luis Fernando Tena made his debut in that game after getting the job just two days before. It was a bad start, but things picked up during the week when they got an away win in Copa MX after beating Correcaminos 2-0. The game also saw Oribe Peralta’s first goal with Chivas and his first in more than a year. While Chivas improved in that game, they will have a tough job ahead with a Pumas team that had an even better week and with the knowledge that they will need a big winning streak to get to qualify to the Liguilla. All the pressure is on them and so far they haven’t showed that they can handle it.

Pumas had one of the better weeks so far. On Sunday they had their best performance of the season when they defeated league leaders Santos. While they had a slow start, a great second half meant they were deserved winners. Then in Copa MX play they got a clear away win against Atletico San Luis by a score of 4-0. The win gave Pumas their ticket to the next round of Copa MX with a game to spare. While most fans missed the performance because of the Mexico friendly, the away win means that Pumas might be considered the favorites in this game - something that never happens when Pumas played Chivas in Guadalajara. With the historically long streak of 36 years without a win in Guadalajara ended twice last year (Pumas won against Chivas in both Copa MX and Liga MX play), Pumas has the chance of starting a winning streak away to Chivas and continuing in the Liguilla zone.

Chivas has a lot of hurdles coming into this Saturday game but they did have a streak over Pumas that lasted years and this wouldn’t be the first time they faced them at home with a lot of hurdles and came out on top. While Pumas are in Liguilla zone, it all has been based on home wins and outside of two wins in San Luis in both Liga MX and Copa MX, they haven’t been able to get a win away from home. Yet Pumas needs to step it up and this is a perfect opportunity to show they deserve to be in Liguilla zone.

Game: Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A. de C.V. vs. Club de Futbol Universidad Nacional AC

Date: Saturday, October 5th

Time: 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 9:00 p.m. Central, 7:00 p.m. Pacific, 2:00 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Akron (Zapopan, Jal.)

Referees: REF: Jorge Isaac Rojas Castillo, AR1: Alberto Morín Méndez, AR2: Jorge Antonio Sánchez Espinoza, 4TH: Edgar Ulises Rangel Araujo

Television: United States - None; Mexico - TUDN, Azteca 7, Canal 5 Televisa

Streaming: ChivasTV, YouTube