America and Chivas battle in disappointing scoreless tie in the Superclasico.

Club America and Chivas battled in a new edition of the Superclasico that disappointingly ended 0-0. It was a game that was lively at times and very even, but overall didn’t live up to expectations. America came into the match as heavy favorites against Chivas, but for a second straight game they gave a lackluster performance. Chivas meanwhile came in with an interim coach after firing Victor Manuel Vucetich and perhaps caught everyone by surprise by being the better team in the first half until they ran out of steam and had to sit back for most of the second half, where America was the dominant side. Chivas will now travel to face Queretaro in a midweek away match before facing another clasico at home against Atlas. America will travel to nearby Pachuca before facing their other clasico on Sunday against Pumas.

The first half started with the surprise of the return from injury of Alexis Vega, who was starting in his first game after his injury in the Mexico national team match against Costa Rica. America came in with a starting forward pair of Roger Martinez and Henry Martin, going on offense from the start. The first opportunity came with a header by Pedro Aquino that went just wide in a corner kick. America had a great opportunity when a great cross by Salvador Reyes found Roger Martinez, but his header was stopped by Chivas defender Luis Olivas in a great play. Chivas responded with a long shot by Alexis Vega that America’s goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was able to easily save. Chivas had a great chance after America lost a ball and ended up with a counter in which Jesus Ricardo Angulo got the ball in the area to a wide open Vega, whose left footed shot went well wide. It was Chivas’ first, but it was the best opportunity of the match for either team. Chivas had another good chance when a long ball found Christian Calderon, but he did a bad job of lowering the ball and wasted a good opportunity. Immediately after that play, Isaac Brizuela went down with an injury and had to be subbed out for Jesus Sanchez. Chivas had another chance after America gave the ball away and Vega got into the area on a one-on-one with Jorge Sanchez following closely, but when Vega tried to cross the ball back to two Chivas attackers, he sent it to the path of Reyes who was able to clear the ball. Minutes later Reyes was able to get off a shot that forced Chivas’ keeper Raul Gudiño to make a good save. A few minutes after that, there was a harsh foul from Calderon on Jorge Sanchez that replays showed that it could have been a red card but on a terrible job from referee Cesar Ramos, no card was given. The after a struggle between Pedro Aquino and Sergio Flores, a scuffle broke out with Jorge Sanchez coming from behind and slapping Flores on the head but once again Ramos failed to see anything. Things would be even worse two minutes later when after a clash in the area. Henry Martin and Miguel Angel Ponce got into a fight in which Martin grabbed Ponce by the neck and Ponce tried to poke Martin in the eyes. Ramos’ terrible job lead to this fight with Ramos only giving yellow cards until this second fight. The ref would blow the halftime whistle and although there had been some moments, it was mostly a game that hadn’t reached expectations as well as a bad job from the referee.

The second half started with Chivas hoping to build on a first half where they had been better, while Club America tried to show why they came in as the favorites to the match. Chivas had a good start to their half, but eventually America would get more possession with Chivas failing to create much danger. Their biggest was a longball that Ochoa got to seconds before Uriel Antuna arrived. America subbed out Roger Martinez for Sebastian Cordova. America had a great opportunity when a cross by Jorge Sanchez found Martin in the area, and his header forced Gudiño to make a great save. America had another great chance when Reyes got a cross into the area but Martin failed to control the ball from close range, allowing Gudiño to get to it. Chivas subbed out Calderon for Fernando Beltran to try to get possession back as America had taken control of the match. America countered by subbing out Henry Martin for Federico Viñas. Chivas had their first chance in a while when a long range shot from Angulo went wide. Off of a corner kick, Bruno Valdez rose to get a good header that forced Gudiño to make a great save to keep the game scoreless. Chivas subbed out Alexis Vega, Uriel Antuna, and Jesus Molina for Oribe Peralta, Cesar Huerta, and Carlos Cisneros. America came close again when a cross by Cordova just missed being headed by Mauro Lainez. It would be his last play as Lainez was subbed out for Nicolas Benedetti. America had one final chance when a shot by Richard Sanchez got deflected by a Chivas defender, and the ball was cleared before Viñas could get to the rebound. That would be it and the game ended with a disappointing 0-0 score.

Chivas came into the game with interim Coach Michel Leaño in the midst of a struggling season and were expected to be very big underdogs. Yet they surprised almost everybody with a good first half in which they were the better team before faltering in the second. Overall they had the better result, although fans will still not be happy with they way the team had to finish in a defensive stance. Chivas will now have a great chance to continue improving against Queretaro before facing another Clasico against Atlas. Meanwhile Club America will get the criticisms from fans, although they might be able to escape because of the terrible job by Ramos since although it was bad for both teams, it was slightly worse for America. With their loss against Toluca they might be losing their first place standing on Sunday. America will need to bounce back with two tough matches against Pachuca and their next home game with the city clasico against Pumas.