With very little, the visitors took advantage of the first chapter of the Quarterfinal series this Thursday night at the Akron Stadium. Guadalajara showed ambition and desire to come back from a two-goal deficit, but wasn't effective and ended up losing 1-2 in the first leg of the Quarterfinals series. El Rebaño Sagrado must now win by a two-goal margin next Sunday at the Jalisco Stadium to go to the Semifinals.
20 seconds into the match, Chivas came within a whisker surprising its opponent, as Alexis Vega beat his marker to the ball and then left it for Roberto Alvarado to head into the box, but he crossed his shot too far. At 12', 'Charal' Cisneros put in a cross that the backline broke up just before Alexis could get his head to it. From then on, both teams engaged in a fierce battle for the control of the ball, until 27', the away team took the lead after 'Wacho' Jiménez saved a shot from point-blank range from Quiñones, but the ball was left alive and Jeremy Márquez pushed it into the net.
After the goal, the Rebaño pushed forward, although without much clarity, while the Zorros were dedicated to letting time run out. At 40', 'Nene' Beltrán tried his luck from half distance, but his powerful shot went into the goalkeeper's hands. The Red and Blacks extended their lead just before the break, as Márquez appeared on the edge of the six-yard box to shoot past 'Wacho' and score his brace.
Ricardo Cadena made adjustments to his squad for the second half and at 54' it paid off, as 'Chicote' appeared inside the box to take advantage of a ball that was left alive from a corner kick and with a low left-footed shot he shot past the goalkeeper. Three minutes earlier, 'Wacho' had a key action when he beat Furch on the edge of the box when it looked like he was about to score the third goal. At 65', 'Chicote' was really close of equalizing the score, as a mistake by Rocha left him alone in front of goal, but Vargas made a smart save to keep out his shot.
At 70', Furch escaped with the ball under control and shot from the front, but his shot was saved by 'Wacho'. Four minutes later, 'Nene' got on the bike in the midfield and opened up the flank for JJ, who cut back to his marker and then pulled the trigger, but the defense deflected it to the corner when the ball was heading for goal. At 81', Mier ran shoulder to shoulder with Quiñones and with a saving sweep prevented him from shooting at goal. On the next play, 'Nene' answered when he appeared between 3 defenders, but his attempt from the half circle went wide. At 90', 'Piojo' left Reyes at speed and, once inside the area, he shot across, but the ball grazed the post. In the added time, Vargas flew to save a free kick by JJ, which the stadium was already shouting as the equalizer.
Guadalajara 1-2 Atlas
(Cristian Calderón at 54')
(Jeremy Márquez at 27' and 44')
Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez Durán
Akron Stadium
Lineups:
Guadalajara: 32 Miguel Jiménez, 33 Carlos Cisneros, 3 Gilberto Sepúlveda, 21 Hiram Mier, 53 Gilberto Orozco, 26 Cristian Calderón (16 Miguel Ponce at 83'(AM at 86')), 29 Eduardo Torres (30 Sergio Flores at 45'), 20 Fernando Beltrán (6 César Huerta at 83'), 50 Pavel Pérez (7 José Juan Macías at 45'), 25 Roberto Alvarado and 10 Alexis Vega (9 Ángel Zaldívar at 66').
Coach Ricardo Cadena.
Atlas: 12 Camilo Vargas, 4 José Abella, 2 Martín Nervo, 29 Emanuel Aguilera, 14 Luis Reyes, 21 Anibal Chalá (28 Brayan Trejo at 90'+2'), 6 Edgar Zaldívar (199 Ozziel Herrera at 80'), 18 Jeremy Márquez, 26 Aldo Rocha (19 Edyairth Ortega at 76'), 33 Julián Quiñones and 9 Julio Furch.
D.T. Diego Cocca.
