Chivas holds on to get an away victory against Queretaro

Chivas struggled but were able to get a victory over Queretaro by a 2-1 score. Chivas had played a very good first half and dominated a number of spells of the match, but went down to 10 players and really struggled in the final minutes in a match where Queretaro should have tied. Chivas will return home to face their final home match of the regular season against Cruz Azul, while Queretaro travels north to face FC Juarez.

The first half started with Chivas coming out with some changes from their last time out, including having Pavel Perez start and Raul Martinez taking the place of suspended Antonio Briseño. Chivas had the possession at the start, and dominated play. Fernando Beltran got off a right footed shot that Queretaro’s goalkeeper Guillermo Allison blocked. The ball however went right towards defender Miguel Barbieri, and then bounced into the path of Erick Gutierrez, who hit a left footed shot into the empty net to score his first goal with Chivas to give the team the 1-0 lead. While Queretaro now needed to tie, the match didn’t change with Chivas still controlling possession. A bad back pass almost created trouble, but Chivas’ goalkeeper Miguel Jimenez was able to get to the ball and clear it before two of Queretaro’s attackers could reach it. A great cross into the area from Beltran was well lowered and then volleyed by Gutierrez, but Allison came up with a good save. A great cross by Roberto Alvarado was then headed by Ricardo Marin wide from close range, in a bad miss. After getting a pass into the area, Marin got brought down by Allison and the referee gave Chivas a penalty kick. Roberto Alvarado stepped up to take the PK and hit a left footed shot past Allison and into the net to give Chivas the 2-0 lead. Later, a cross into the area almost got deflected almost into the net by a Chivas’ defender. Then a great pass into the area found Beltran, who got into the area on a one-on-one but his low shot was blocked by Allison. It was a good save but a wasted opportunity by Beltran. The halftime whistle blew, and Chivas went in with the lead and the overwhelming superiority so far in the match.

The second half started with Queretaro subbing out Marco Garcia and Oscar Manzanarez for Jordan Sierra and Jaime Gomez. Early in the half Gutierrez was given time and space to get off a shot, but it went wide. After getting the ball in the area, it looked like Jose Zuñiga fell in the area after being tackled by Martinez, but nothing was called. The referee then went to VAR and decided to give Queretaro the penalty. Pablo Barrera stepped up to take the PK, and with a right footed shot knocked it past Jimenez to place the match at 2-1. After making a great move, Beltran made a pass to Gutierrez, who got off a left footed shot from close range but Allison made an incredible save with his face. After getting the ball in the area, Zuñiga got off a shot that might have been handled by Gilberto Sepulveda, but nothing was given. Queretaro then subbed out Omar Dominguez for Mauro Lainez. Alvarado got the ball in the area but his left footed shot was saved by Allison. Chivas later subbed out Roberto Alvarado and Erick Gutierrez for Yael Padilla and Victor Guzman. Queretaro meanwhile subbed out Miguel Barbiero and Nicolas Cordero for Pablo Ortiz and Camilo Sanvezzo. Off of a counter, Cristian Calderon got off a left footed shot that was deflected just wide. Incredibly, in a span of about five minutes, Ricardo Marin got two yellow cards and thus a red, leaving Chivas down to 10 players, forcing Chivas to sub out Fernando Beltran for Hiram Mier. Off of a corner, a header forced Jimenez to make a great save. A shot by Zuñiga then almost got deflected i,n but Ruben Gonzalez was able to clear the shot with a header. In an incredible play, Querataro had three chances to score after a shot was blocked by Jimenez into the path of Zuñiga, but he bounced the ball off Sepulveda right into the path of Emanuel Gularte. Gularte’s shot was blocked by Jimenez into the path of Lainez, whose right footed shot went just inches wide. Off of a corner kick, the ball was left there for Zuñiga but his right footed shot went just wide. In the last minute, Queretaro looked to have a chance but Gularte couldn’t get off his shot and Chivas cleared the ball and got the victory. `

While Chivas got a win that has them bouncing back from their terrible home loss against Tigres by a 4-0 score, they were very lucky to get the victory. After a great first half, Chivas really suffered when Marin got a red card. Queretaro then had some incredible chances and were incredibly unlucky to not get that tying goal. Thus Chivas’ struggle seem to not be over, and they will have a tough match at home against Cruz Azul on Saturday. Queretaro seem to be eliminated, but can still get it if they pull a big upset and get a victory away in Ciudad Juarez on Sunday.