Puebla prevail in penalty shootout to eliminate Chivas and qualify to Liguilla

Puebla booked their ticket to the Liguilla in exciting fashion with a win in a penalty shootout by a 6-5 score. Puebla came back to get a 2-2 tie against a Chivas side that went too defensive in the final minutes and paid for it. The tie forced a penalty shootout in which both keepers did a great job but Puebla was able to survive the sudden death opportunity to get their ticket, while Chivas will have fans all over them as they once again fail to get to the Liguilla by losing in the Repechaje.

The first half started with both teams knowing there was no tomorrow. Chivas came close when a cross into the area was just out of reach from Angel Zaldivar. A couple of minutes later a bad clearance from George Corral went straight to Isaac Brizuela, who got off a right footed shot past Puebla’s goalkeeper, Antony Silva for the 1-0 lead. While Puebla hoped to respond, Chivas continued to dominate possession and pushed Puebla back. Then against the run of play, Maxi Araujo got past Gilberto Sepulveda, who then dived and dropped him for a foul that was called a penalty kick. Christian Tabo stepped up to take it, and with a right footed shot scored past Chivas’ goalkeeper Raul Gudiño for the 1-1 tie. Puebla was livened up by the goal, and had a couple of good runs that Chivas’ defense was able to handle. After a free kick, Guillermo Martinez got into the area and was just inches out of reach of a header that would have gone in had he connected with it from close range. Chivas responded with Alejandro Mayorga getting into the area, but his right footed shot went wide. Gudiño made an incredible mistake when he tried to keep the ball out of giving up a corner kick, instead giving it right to Pablo Parra who had an open net, but his shot went wide. The halftime whistle blew and the game remained tied as both teams had put on a very offensive spectacle.

The second half started with a Puebla getting a shot 10 seconds in from Gustavo Ferrareis, but it went wide. Chivas then got a good chance from Jesus Molina as he jumped high on a corner kick to head the ball, but it went right to Silva. A minute later Brizuela got an even better header that forced Silva to make a great save. Puebla responded with a great shot from Javier Salas that forced a great save from Gudiño. Puebla subbed out Emanuel Gularte for Diego de Buen. After a couple of minutes, a great cross from Brizuela found a wide open Alejandro Mayorga, who got a header from close range past Silva for the 2-1 lead. It was terrible mistake by Puebla’s defense to allow Mayorga the great chance to take the lead. Puebla then subbed out Guillermo Martinez, Pablo Parra, and George Corral for Amaury Escoto, Daniel Alvarez, and Dieter Villalpando. Minutes later it looked like Jesus Molina had injured himself and he needed medical attention. Puebla came close off a corner kick when Araujo tried for an olimpico goal but Gudiño was able to clear it with a save. Chivas then subbed out the injured Jesus Molina, Isaac Brizuela, and Jesus Ricardo Angulo for Ferrnando Beltran, Uriel Antuna, and Cesar Huerta. Puebla meanwhile subbed out Juan Segovia for Lucas Maia. Puebla had a chance when Diego de Buen got off a long range shot, but it went well wide. Chivas sub out Angel Zaldivar and Alexis Vega for Cristian Calderon and Antonio Briseño. Then off of a corner kick, Maia rose to get a great header past Gudiño for the 2-2 equalizer. Puebla kept pushing as Chivas’ defensive substitutions were working terribly for them. Tabo came real close to getting a goal when his shot from outside the area went just wide. The match ended with a short scuffle between Chivas and Puebla just prior to the fact they would have to take penalties.

The shootout started with Puebla and Diego de Buen taking the PK and scoring with a right footed shot for the 1-0. Uriel Antuna took the first Chivas PK and scored with a right footed shot the 1-1. Daniel Alvarez took the second PK and his right footed shot was stopped by Gudiño. Carlos Cisneros took the second for Chivas and his good right footed shot was stopped by Silva. Christian Tabo took the third for Puebla and his strong shot went in for the 2-1. Luis Olivas took the third for Chivas and with a great left footed shot scored the 2-2. Dieter Villalpando took the fourth and scored with a right footed shot the 3-2. Eduardo Torres took the next and scored the 3-3. Amury Escoto took the fifth kick for Puebla and with a right footed shot scored the 4-3. Cristian Calderon came in to take the kick for Chivas and with a good left footed shot tied it for the 4-4 score. It went into sudden death, and Javier Salas stepped up and his right footed shot was stopped by Gudiño. With the possibility to win the match for Chivas, Cesar Huerta stepped up and his right footed shot was saved by Silva to keep things going. Israel Reyes stepped up to take his right footed shot and he scored the 5-4. Antonio Briseño stepped up to take the right footed shot and scored the 5-5. Lucas Amaia took the next PK and his left footed shot was handled by Gudiño, but he it somehow got it past him for the 6-5. Alejandro Mayorga stepped up and his left footed shot was saved by Silva for the win for Puebla.

Puebla got a justified result with the tie and win in the shootout to book their ticket to the Liguilla. The team had gotten back twice from trailing and never stopped going for it, being the total opposite of Chivas. In the shootout they bounced back from being a conversion away from being eliminated and will now go to the Liguilla where they will wait for the results from Sunday to see who they face. Chivas meanwhile will feell like a huge failure for twice giving up leads. Worse criticism will be heard against Coach Michel Leaño, who came in supposedly to change things from defensive ex-coach Victor Manuel Vucetich. Yet Leaño looked to have gotten spooked and went as defensive by taking out two attackers in Vega and Zaldivar for Briseño and Calderon. To make matters worse, they did a terrible job defending on the corner kick that ended with Puebla’s tying goal and the last minutes had Puebla getting close to scoring the winning goal, since they had no offense to respond. Kicking themselves must be Liga MX officials since a Chivas win would guarantee a clasico as Chivas would have played a series against America (Superclasico) or Atlas (Clasico Tapatio), and now instead it will be the exciting but lowly rated Puebla. Still that’s not Puebla’s fault, and they did enough to take advantage of a cautious Chivas but will need to improve a lot for their next matchups.