Saturday night at the Akron Stadium was a party and a carnival. The more than 30,000 ChivaHermanos in attendance were on the edge of their seats and gave their constant support to Guadalajara, who rewarded them with a remarkable footballing performance to beat Pumas 3-1, in the penultimate match of the 2022 Clausura Tournament, which gave them their third win in just 7 days to reach 23 points and momentarily take seventh place in the table, although they could move up one more place if Atlas falls tomorrow against Toluca.
The first few minutes passed with an intense dispute for control of the ball; the Rebaño opted for a very vertical and direct team play to get close to the goal, while the visitors sought to hurt the visitors by whipping the ball forward and, at 5', they knocked on the door when Velarde sent a shot behind the back of the defense that would leave Diogo de Oliveira with an advantage, but 'Wacho' Jiménez came out to cut off any danger. However, it was the Tapatían team who opened the scoreboard at minute 11, after 'Piojo' Alvarado filtered for Alexis Vega, who looked for 'Canelo' Angulo, but the defense cut him off and left the ball alive in front, where Piojo gave it to Alexis, who escaped between two defenders and shot across Talavera's goal.
After the goal, the match turned into a give-and-take between the Red and Whites and the Unamitas. At 18', 'Tiba' headed a shot, but it went wide, and at 20', Arturo Ortiz took a corner kick, but the ball was not headed towards the goal. Seven minutes later, 'Charal' Cisneros shook off two defenders with a couple of bicycles, then opened up the other side for Vega, who cut back and pulled the trigger from the left corner of the area, but Talavera flew to deflect the ball with his fingernails. At 27', Mier took advantage of a defensive rebound to put in a powerful header, which Mozo kicked off the goal line just before Alvarado pushed it into the net. At 43', 'Wacho' leaned to the left to send Saucedo's shot to the corner. In the last part of the first half, Chivas extended its lead, after Alexis left Mozo stranded in the midfield with a self-pass, got on the bike and, upon entering the area, gave it to 'Piojo' who simply sent it into the net.
In the second half, Saucedo once again tested the reflexes of 'Wacho', who made a one-handed save near the base of the right post. At 52', 'Canelo' filtered a millimetric pass to 'Charal', who put in a second to beat Saucedo in the race, but Talavera made a good save to deny his shot. The capitalino side cut the deficit at 58' after Rogério took a half-volley from the edge of the area, impossible for 'Wacho', who came close to deflecting it. However, the pleasure was short-lived, as two minutes later, 'Canelo' responded in kind, after he stole the ball from Saucedo and took advantage of the spaces created by 'Chelo' to take a powerful line drive that went in at the base of the right post.
At 77', 'Piojo' looked for 'Chelo' , but Talavera made a good save, and then the visitors answered with a powerful header by De Oliveira, which 'Wacho' slammed home. At 81', Zaldívar saw the goalkeeper ahead of him and tried to surprise him from midfield, but the ball went wide. Alexis came within a whisker of scoring a brace at 86', but his shot from the half-circle went wide of the net.
Chivas will play its last chance to reach the Liguilla next Friday when it visits Necaxa, in the closing match of the regular phase.
Guadalajara 3-1 UNAM
(Alexis Vega at 11', Roberto Alvarado at 44', Jesús Angulo at 60')
(José Rogério at 58')
Referee: Óscar Macías Romo
Akron Stadium
Lineups:
Guadalajara: 23 Miguel Jiménez, 33 Carlos Cisneros, 21 Hiram Mier, 3 Gilberto Sepúlveda, 53 Gilberto Orozco, 26 Cristian Calderón, 29 Eduardo Torres, 20 Fernando Beltrán (9 Ángel Zaldívar at 56'), 19 Jesús Angulo (50 Pável Pérez at 90'), 25 Roberto Alvarado and 10 Alexis Vega (31 Paolo Yrizar at 90').
Coach Ricardo Cadena.
UNAM: 1 Alfredo Talavera, 2 Alan Mozo, 25 Arturo Ortiz, 23 Nicolás Freire (AM at 89'), 18 Efraín Velarde, 48 Marco García, 8 Higor Meritao (47 José Galindo at 73'), 7 Sebastián Saucedo (198 Jorge Ruvalcaba at 63' (AM at 75')), 19 Omar Islas, 21 José Rogério and 33 Diogo de Oliveira.
Coach Andrés Lillini.
