So close and yet so far

“Everything seems simpler from a distance”.
- Gail Tsukiyama

Three games. Three similar results. The road to regularity is much closer and still so far away. If one were to look it seems we are taking two steps forward and three steps back. The Pre-Olympian Chivas were young and untested but the Seventy-Thirty Vibe could be felt. What they were lacking in skill they made up in heart. Subtle changes in the line-up have rocked the boat and the road to finding balance seems far away.

Our director said it himself, “We have a great roster but the “Equipo” is missing”. Well, what else can be expected? Six different matches with six different line-ups. Reactionary futbol?

Still if we take a look at the teams progression from game to game we might agree that Chivas have shown a strong forward push in defense. The ball circulates much better and the general flow if not exactly offensive we can clearly see that the objective is to recoup for fast counters and if this is not possible then to maintain ball possession and circulate outside the eighteen yard box until an opportunity presents itself, then BOOM!

But ‘goles son amores, mis queridos’ and that is where we have failed to come through. Its like we cannot get a break. We lose to San Luis off two errors, the following week a decent two zero away win which is played down by the press because ‘era el Puebla’. Week three a two-two draw with two controversial calls leading to the Juarez goals, a dubious foul and an offensive hand-ball that left it spinning dead in the six yard box.

Here’s where the weird begins. Games four, five and six. In all three matches, the rivals goalies pulled the proverbial chestnuts out of the fire. Acevedo in the draw against Santos, Cota in the loss to Leon and lastly Esteban Andrada in the Zero-Zero draw the past weekend. Man talk about bad luck and extraordinary goal-keeping. If one or two of those games had come up a victory then the tale we are telling now would be a different one.

‘Pero el hubiera no existe’, my Chiva Bretheren, but we can see that there has been small but clear improvement in the Red and White lines even though the talking heads would like us to believe the contrary. I don’t hear anyone saying that Santos is a lesser team having missed an opportunity to beat Chivas or that Monterrey played most of the ninety-plus minutes waiting for a convenient moment to counter, either with 11 or 10 players on the field.

‘De algo estoy seguro’: In all of the games we have played this season, the sense of being on the verge of winning has been in the air. That is what makes the draws and the losses so hard to digest for the Chiva-Fanbase. So close! However, until we reach our goal and string more than two victories together we are going to need more than almost winning to keep our Red and White Hearts pumping.