Match Preview: Chivas vs Puebla

Struggling Chivas will try to get their first win of the season, but they will have to face one of the surprise teams of the competition when they face Puebla on Saturday. Chivas only has a tie (and they were lucky to get it) against Leon, while Puebla were minutes away from getting six points, but still have a solid four points with a great away win against Mazatlan FC and a tie against one of the leading title contenders in Cruz Azul. They hope to strike again, and are in prime position with a Chivas team that has looked weak.

Chivas fans were looking hopeful to the start of the season. Chivas had taken part in the Copa GNP por Mexico in the pre-season and reached the final, finishing in second place after losing to Cruz Azul with a last minute penalty kick. But maybe because of the tournament, negative things started appearing when a couple of players tested positive for COVID-19 and had to sit out the start of the season. The problem continued as Alexis Vega and Fernando Beltran, two key players, testrd positive for the virus and will miss their game against Puebla. The season started with Chivas getting a scoreless tie against Leon in their first game. Although Chivas came close to scoring with a header by Jose Juan Macias that hit the post, Leon was the better team and should have won had their star striker Angel Mena not missed three great opportunities. In their next game against Santos, they got dominated and lost 2-0 in a game they could have lost by a bigger margin. To make matters worse, Macias got stopped in a penalty kick and thus they still have yet to score this season. Chivas will need to bounce back against Puebla, because so far they have had only lackluster performances since their semifinal win against America in the Copa GNP por Mexico.

Puebla has been one of the most surprising teams so far. Coming into the season with one of the weaker squads, they started the tournament by getting a historic win. In the first game ever played in “Kraken” Stadium of Mazatlan, Puebla crushed Mazatlan FC with a 4-1 win. They then proceeded to go home and face one of the leading candidates to win the title in Cruz Azul. To the surprise of many, they took a 1-0 lead and almost looked to get the three points but Cruz Azul tied in injury time with a great goal by Orbelin Pineda. Still they have played well in both games and have four points when many predicted they wouldn’t have any. Chivas will have their work cut out for them and Puebla getting points in their trip to Guadalajara doesn’t seem like an upset at all now.

Chivas will have a very tough match in their third game of the season. A result against Puebla is anything but a guarantee when most people would have thought it a “sure win” prior to the start of the season. Puebla meanwhile needs to have a repeat performance to show they are for real, something that many in Mexico are all starting to realize, which would only increase with a victory in Guadalajara.

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