Mexican Match Thoughts: Morelia vs. Chivas de Guadalajara

I totally forgot to check my Soccer Score app this morning, so it came as a big but pleasant surprise that there was some live Mexico Apertura action tonight between Morelia and Chivas. It served as a nice appetizer for the main course of EPL tomorrow, and was a fantastic match to watch.

It was a match that could have, and really should have gone a different way than it did. In the end though, the quality won out.

In the early moments, Chivas had the lion's share of possession, and Morelia looked like they might still be shaking off the cobwebs of last week's late loss to Monterrey. The Goats created many chances early, but could not convert, either shooting balls into the stands or making easy saves.

After about 25 minutes though, Morelia finally showed up, and showed up big. They forced some chances in on Michel in goal for Chivas, and that finally got them some confidence. The match really opened up with both sides going up and down the pitch, but neither could convert anything and the half ended at 0-0.

In the second half, Morelia looked like they might try a possession game for a few minutes, but soon enough the match opened back up and the sparks started to fly. Morelia made their first big mistake in the 50th minute. Chivas was up on a counter and sent a rather harmless looking cross into the 18. Defender Yasser Anwar Corona Delgado went to clear, but it deflected off the outside of his leg and into the net for an own goal. Chivas led 0-1.

The mistake didn't keep Morelia down long though, as they pressed on with their attack. Their persistence paid off just a few minutes later. In the 52nd minute, Manso took a beautiful back heel pass in the Chivas 18 and banged it home far post for the equalizer. A gorgeous goal, and Michel didn't have a chance.

Then Chivas started to implode. They got hit with two pretty blatant red cards. The first came in the 56th minute when Magallon got the wrath of the ref for some studs up action. Then in the 70th Araujo made it even worse with a red for flying reckless tackle. It was 11 versus 9 for Morelia.

However, not only could Morelia not capitalize on the situation, they gave up another goal. Gallardo made a totally unmarked run into the Morelia 6 and just barely tapped a goal past the keeper to make it 1-2 to Chivas.

Morelia had several chances late, including several corners and free kicks, but they managed to screw every one of them up. More often than not, they didn't even trouble the Chivas goal. Chivas did dodge a bullet when a handball in the box went uncalled, but the ball came from his own teammate and was headed out of the box. Apparently that was enough to convince the ref to avoid handing Morelia a totally undeserved draw.