Estadio Akron’s scoring woes continue as Chivas and Pachuca play a scoreless tie.

Chivas and Estadio Akron’s scoring woes continued as Chivas and Pachuca finished with a 0-0 tie. It was another frustrating game, as Chivas once again fails to produce a goal at their home stadium. So far in the season there has only been four goals scored in four games in Estadio Akron, but three of them came in the Chivas vs. San Luis game, which mean that there has been a single goal in the other three games played. Chivas went scoreless for their second consecutive game, but unlike their match with Toluca this time they failed to create much danger and the 0-0 tie reflected what went on the field. Chivas will now travel to Monterrey to face a tough game against Tigres, while Pachuca will return home to face struggling Atletico San Luis.

The first half started with Alexis Vega returning not only to play with Chivas but coming out as a starter. Uriel Antuna was also on the bench. After a couple of even minutes, Jose Juan Macias got the ball and had a great shot that forced Pachuca’s keeper Oscar Ustari to make a save. Pachuca answered back with a shot by Victor Davila that forced a save from Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Chivas’ keeper. Later Pachuca came close again when a great shot from Luis Chavez just went inches wide of the right post. Pachuca had taken control of the possession although without creating much danger, while Chivas relied on counter attacks. After minutes without danger, Pachuca had another great chance when Romario Ibarra jumped into the air and connected with a left footed volley which went wide. It would have been a great goal had it been just a little to the right. Later on Ibarra had another chance but his shot went well wide. Pachuca kept having more control as Chivas suffered with Ricardo Angulo, who was having a terrible first half and thus neither Macias or Vega had any opportunities to do something. Chivas played out the rest of the half and hoped to improve as the ref blew the whistle.

The second half started with both teams coming out with the same 11 players they started with. Chivas started with a great run from Isaac Brizuela that found Angulo, who immediately stopped the play to pass it back, killing it. Pachuca had the first chance when Oscar Murillo rose to head a ball in the area, but it went over and wide. Pachuca had an even better chance when a cross into the area found Erick Sanchez, but his header also went wide. Chivas had their first chance when Macias got the ball in the area and made a great shot from outside the area that just went wide. Then after Pachuca lost the ball, Chivas had a counter attack but after Macias found Vega, his shot in the area was deflected into a corner kick. With the game looking even, both teams made offensive moves. Pachuca subbed out Jorge Hernandez for Victor Guzman, who was playing against Chivas for the first time after signing with them before the operation was voided because of his positive cocaine test. Meanwhile Chivas subbed in Uriel Antuna for Ricardo Angulo, who had an awful game. Pachuca later subbed in Leonardo Ramos for Felipe Pardo and Isamel Sosa for Romario Ibarra. Chivas then subbed out Fernando Beltran for Dieter Villalpando. All those subs seemed to cancel each other, and neither team had a chance until Jesus Molina got a long range shot that was easily saved by Ustari. Later Erick Aguirre slipped and looked to be injured so he got subbed out for Efrain Orona, while Erick Sanchez also got subbed out by Kevin Alvarez. Chivas almost paid for a bad pass by Gilberto Sepulveda that gave the ball to Pachuca, but the defense was able to stop them. In the counter attack, Vega made a great cross that Macias went inches away from heading it in but failed to reach it. Later Pachuca answered with a pass in the area to Ramos, whose left footed shot just went wide. After that neither team came close and another disappointing tie happened for Chivas in their stadium.

The match between Chivas and Pachuca left a lot to be desired. The lack of offense from both teams was notable as they did a good job of cancelling each other. Pachuca was going from a lively 4-3 victory at home against Mazatlan, so it’s probably less worrisome for them but Chivas’ lack of offensive punch has been a problem this season. Chivas has only scored four goals in the season and they came in twogames, meaning they have failed to score in five out of seven games. While forwards like Macias and Vega haven’t had much success, the fact is that outside of the game against Juarez and Toluca, Chivas hasn’t been producing many offensive opportunities and it hasn’t improved since new coach Victor Manuel Vucetich arrived, although the team has improved on defense. Chivas will have a tough match against Tigres, who will need to bounce back after giving up another win when they got tied with an injury time goal by Mazatlan. Meanwhile Pachuca will return home where they should be favored against a struggling Atletico San Luis.