Cruz Azul bounce back to defeat and eliminate Chivas to go thru to Semifinals

Cruz Azul battled back from trailing twice to get a 3-2 victory over Chivas in the 2nd leg of the Quarterfinal series. Needing only a tie to go thru to the Semifinals, Cruz Azul instead twice was eliminated as Chivas took the lead but a poor 2nd half from the visitors was enough for the home side to take the lead. Chivas had the ticket twice and even had a chance to get the lead that was wasted with a Penalty Kick miss. Cruz Azul moves to the Semifinal where they will face off against Tigres, in a series where they now lose the advantage of a tied score.

The 1st half started with the surprising news that Chivas’ top scoring forward, Armando Gonzalez, was out of the match because of an injury during warmups. Cade Cowell would take his place up top. Off a corner kick, Chivas surprised everyone by taking it quickly and Roberto Alvarado got off a cross that would be volleyed from close range by Cade Cowell past Cruz Azul’s goalkeeper, Andres Gudiño, and into the net to score and give Chivas the 1-o lead they needed. In the area, Richard Ledezma got off a right footed shot that went well wide. Cruz Azul would answer with Ignacio Rivero getting the ball in the area and getting off a right footed shot that went just wide. Off a counter, a low cross into the area from Jeremy Marquez would find Gabiel Fernandez, whose right footed shot went past Chivas’ goalkeeper, Raul Rangel to score and tie the match at 1-1. Once again Cruz Azul had the score they needed to go thru to the Semifinals. A cross from Efrain Alvarez was deflected into the path of Gudiño, who had trouble controlling the ball. A cross into the area would eventually fall to Bryan Alonso Gonzalez, who get off a right footed shot past Gudiño and into the net to score and give Chivas the 2-1 lead. Once again Chivas had the score they needed to go past Cruz Azul into the Semifinals. Off a free kick, a left footed shot from Alvarez was deflected just wide, in a play that would have been a goal had it been going in as Gudiño was beaten. The halftime whistle blew and Chivas took the lead they needed to the dressing room.

The 2nd half started with Cruz Azul subbing out Lorenzo Faravelli and Gonzalo Piovi for Jorge Sanchez and Jesus Orozco. Alvarez would get the ball in the area but his left footed shot was saved by Gudiño. A combination play would end with Fernandez getting off a right footed shot that was deflected wide by defender Jose Castillo. Chivas would answer with a left footed shot from Cowell that would go just wide. Chivas subbed out Efrain Alvarez for Erick Gutierrez in a defensive move. A cross into the area from Rivero almost got deflected into an own goal. Chivas subbed out Richard Ledezma for Alan Mozo. A cross into the area was headed by Fernandez but deflected by Luis Romo to Rangel’s hands. Cruz Azul subbed out Ignacio Rivero and Carlos Rotondi for Angel Sepulveda and Omar Campos. A cross into the area was headed just wide by Sepulveda. After a good pass from Carlos Rodriguez into the area, it would find Jeremy Marquez, who got off a great right footed shot from just inside the area that would go past Rangel and hit the post and then go into the net to score and tie the match at 2-2. Once again Cruz Azul had bounced back to temporarily have the ticket to the Semifnals in a goal that was expected as Chivas had become too defensive in the 2nd half. Needing a goal, Chivas subbed out Roberto Alvarado, Omar Govea and Cade Cowell for Alan Pulido, Santiago Sandoval and Javier Hernandez. Off a free kick, the ball would fall to Hernandez, who would score from close range but the goal was correctly called off for a clear offside. On a combination play, Sandoval got tripped in the area by Orozco and a Penalty Kick was given to Chivas. The call was controversial but it remained. Hernandez stepped up to take the PK and would send his right footed shot to the stands in a bad miss. Not only was it a terrible miss for Chivas, it was a horrid miss for Hernandez, who seemed to have put the final nail in the coffin of his disastrous return to Chivas. Cruz Azul subbed out Jeremy Marquez for Jorge Rodarte. Off a counter, a great pass would get to Carlos Rodriguez, who got off a marvelous lobbed shot over Rangel and into the net to score and give Cruz Azul the 3-2 lead that gave the team the ticket to the Semifinals and probably the victory. It would end up being the last play of the match as Cruz Azul won and eliminated a spirited Chivas to to thru to the Semifinals.

Cruz Azul came back from twice being down and out to get a victory over a Chivas side that showed spirit but lacked finishing and had a terrible wasted chance by Chicharito Hernandez, who ends a terrible spell with the club. Hernandez came thru as a legend of Mexican football returning to the club he started with but it was a total failure. To end things with a PK that would have given Chivas the huge possibility of going thru but instead it ended their chances is a terrible look for a player who has been on the decline ever since he ended his career in Europe and went from Sevilla to the LA Galaxy. Chivas had a better season than expected for some although they are still far from being a candidate for the title but under Coach Gabriel Milito, they have showed a lot of promise for next season. Meanwhile Cruz Azul goes thru but also left a lot of doubts as they trailed twice at home and had Chivas converted that PK, might have gone out of the tournament. They will need to improve in their semifinal matchup against Tigres as this time they will face a team that ended up higher in the table than them so that means that if they tie in the aggregate score, Tigres would get the tiebreaker that would put them in the final.