From minute one, both teams showed they were aware of what a wild card game represents, and neither backed down or so it seemed because as time passed by, Chivas showed why they were considered favorites with suffocating pressure over the visiting team.
In minute 9, Fernando Beltrán fired a powerful shot that got deflected by a defender. In minute 13, ‘El Nene’ delivered a precise ball into Ángel Zaldívar’s head; sadly, his header went straight into a Bilbao’s body.
Then in the 17th minute, Jesús Angulo entered the box and took a left-footed shot that was saved by Malagón. Seven minutes later, ‘Canelo’ Angulo & Fernando Beltrán displayed a superb collective play that could not be finished by Zaldívar as his shot went a bit wide.
In the 34th minute, Antuna entered the box and shot, but the ball crashed into a defender, then a couple of minutes later, Zaldívar released a close-distance shot and the ball ended in the hands of Malagón. By the end of the first half, in minute 41, Zaldívar brilliantly assisted ‘Tiba’ whose shot went into the far post.
The second half started and things were no different, with a very aggressive ‘Chiverío’, in minute 46 Isaac Brizuela tried his luck from long-range, but he failed to hit the target. At last, in minute 54 Chivas’ hard work finally paid off as Zaldívar assisted Jesús Angulo who dribbled past a couple of defenders and shot past Malagón.
By the final stretch of the game, Necaxa tried hard for the equalizer, but Gudiño showed what he is made of, first, he saved a powerful shot by Rodríguez and then cleared a ball off the line following a very dangerous header by Malagón during a hail mary corner kick.
Tomorrow, following the last game of the Wild Card Round, Chivas will know who their rival will be in the quarter-final round of Guard1anes 2020.
Guadalajara 1-0 Necaxa
(Jesús Angulo 53’)
Referee: César Arturo Ramos Palazuelos
Estadio Akron
Lineups:
Guadalajara: 1 Raúl Gudiño, 17 Jesús Sánchez, 21 Hiram Mier, 3 Gilberto Sepúlveda, 16 Miguel Ponce, 19 Jesús Angulo, 5 Jesús Molina (YC 19’) (14 Antonio Briseño 83’), 20 Fernando Beltrán (26 Cristian Calderon 90’), 11 Isaac Brizuela, 15 Uriel Antuna (18 Ronaldo Cisneros 90’) & 13 Ángel Zaldívar (56 Eduardo Torres 81’).
Coach. Víctor Manuel Vucetich.
Necaxa: 25 Luis Malagón, 2 Idekel Domínguez, 3 Unai Bilbao, 4 Jair Pereira (33 Mario de Luna 45’), 26 Julio González, 7 David Cabrera (8 Fernando Arce 72’), 21 Alejandro Zendejas (10 Maxi Salas 45’), 23 Claudio Baeza (YC 67’) (20 Yerko Leiva 72’), 9 Lucas Passerini (YC 82’), 15 Juan Delgado & 24 Ian González (19 Jhoao Rodríguez 56’ -YC 59’-).
Coach. José Guadalupe Cruz.
