Club America defeats Chivas once again in Superclasico friendly

In a sold out Rose Bowl, Club America once again defeated Chivas in a Superclasico by a 2-0 score. The friendly was another disappointing moment for Chivas, who lost badly in the Liga MX Superclasico by a 4-0 score. While they hoped to gain a win to build up after that disastrous performance, it did the total opposite. Both teams will return to Mexico where Chivas will travel to Puebla and America will take on Santos at home, as Liga MX comes back into action after the FIFA break.

The first half started with Chivas coming out with their best XI, while America had a number of missing players as they were out in international duty with the Mexican National Team as well as in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers. Chivas had a plan to pressure America whenever they had the ball and tried to play out from the back, and it caused trouble at times for America. While Chivas dominated possession, America held their own and always looked dangerous in a intense match. A bad pass by Igor Lichnovsky almost turned into a goal, but America goalkeeper Oscar Jimenez was able to clear the ball before it got to a Chivas’ attacker. America then lost a ball close to the area, giving Chivas a great chance in which Roberto Alvarado would find Victor Guzman in the area, but his right footed shot was saved by Oscar Jimenez. Later America lost the ball again and allowed Chivas to get the ball to Alvarado, who lobbed the ball to Guzman, but his header went just wide. Then in a play that surprised Chivas and the TV telecast, Julian Quiñones got off a great right footed shot against the run of play that went past Chivas goalkeeper Miguel Jimenez and into the net to give America the 1-0 lead. Unfortunately for fans outside the Rose Bowl, the TV telecast did an awful job and missed the goal because of showing a number of replays that weren’t needed at the time. A cross into the area found once again Guzman, but his volley went wide. Isaac Brizuela then got off a right footed shot from outside the area but it also went wide. Brisuela later got off another right footed shot that Oscar Jimenez saved. Off of a corner kick, Alvarado found a wide open Alan Mozo, who got off a right footed volley that might have been the worst shot taken in the history of the Rose Bowl. Fernando Beltran then got off a great cross into the area that Guzman headed from close range, but right to Oscar Jimenez who did a good job of stopping the ball. After clashing with Ricardo Marin, defender Israel Reyes had a very bad cut and needed medical attention, but was able to remain in the match. The halftime whistle blew and although Chivas had played well, it was America who took the lead at halftime.

The second half started with no substitutions, something strange for a club friendly. After a good move, Alvarado got off a left footed shot that went wide. Off of a free kick, Miguel Layun got a great cross that Ruben Gonzalez cleared almost off of the head of Lichnovsky. Unfortunately for him, the ball eventually reached Bruce El-Mesmari, who got off a cross into the area. The ball went through into the path of Julian Quiñones, who was able to get off a low volley past Miguel Jimenez and into the net, giving America the 2-0 lead. Chivas tried to respond quickly and a cross into the area was headed back by Antonio Briseño, but the ball was cleared before Marin could get off a close range header. America subbed out Julian Quiñones for Patricio Salas. Chivas meanwhile subbed out Isaac Brizuela for Yael Padilla. A shot by Salas was blocked into the path of Leonardo Suarez, who got off a great right footed shot that went just wide. Later, Suarez made a run and hit a right footed shot that Miguel Jimenez had trouble with but was able to save it in the end. Off of the corner kick, Salas hit a great volley that forced Miguel Jimenez to make a good save on it. After getting the ball in the area, Salvador Reyes then got off a left footed shot that was saved by Miguel Jimenez. The rebound fell to Suarez, whose left footed shot was blocked by Jimenez and fell to Salas, whose shot was blocked by the Chivas defense. Incredibly, Suarez looked away in frustration and missed that the rebound fell to his feet, and thus the ball was cleared in a bad mistake by the attacker. Chivas then subbed out Alan Mozo, Ruben Gonzalez, Victor Guzman, Alejandro Mayorga, and Ricardo Marin for Pavel Perez, Jesus Sanchez, Daniel Rios, Leonardo Sepulveda, and Ronaldo Cisneros. With the changes and the way the match was going, it looked like Chivas was giving up trying to get the comeback win. A cross into the area could have led to a good chance, but Padilla failed to control the ball and although he got off a shot, Oscar Jimenez easily saved it. America subbed out Leonardo Suarez and Bruce El-Mesmari for Luis Fuentes and Santiago Naveda. America and Chivas’ supporters group took advantage of the substitutions to make their “smoke show”, which is typical in Liga MX friendly matches that take place in the United States. It brought the match into a standstill and hurt the match. Chivas then took the time to sub out Fernando Beltran and Miguel Jimenez for Armando Gonzalez and Oscar Whalley. After the match restarted, fans started to make the infamous homophobic chant when the goalkeeper kicked the ball, turning their behavior from bad to worse. In a wise move because of the chant and the smoke, the referee decided to end the match at the 90th minute and not give injury time to punish the fans even when they should have been considerable time added because of the stoppage with the smoke bombs.

Club America gained a big achievement by once again defeating Chivas. While Chivas had their full team, America was missing many players because of international duty. Diego Valdes (Chile), Richard Sanchez (Paraguay), Alejandro Zendejas (United States), Brian Rodriguez and Sebastian Caceres (Uruguay), Ramon Juarez and Kevin Alvarez (Mexico) all were missing because of international duty and they were still able to get the victory. The previous result might have helped in giving this friendly a bigger buzz that included a sold out crowd in a huge stadium as the Rose Bowl. Thus Chivas went from a win that could have helped liven up the struggling team to another defeat. They will hope to turn things around when they face Puebla on Friday, while Club America returns to defend their top spot against Santos.