The right stuff

“People always start with vigor, deep aspirations and inspirations, but things that happen as we journey and our reactions towards such things, fantasies and realities, determine the real robustness of our staying power and what distinctive thing we are able to do in reality with our vigor, aspirations and inspirations in the end!”.
- Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Staying Power. Keep these two words at the forefront of your mind starting now and as the season progresses. The team which shows that they have the determination and skill to complete their objectives and make their hopes and dreams a reality will be those who will first move through to the final 8 and secondly and most importantly win the Liga MX.

Preseason is finally over and the Liga MX is revving its engines to get started this Friday. With the beginning come new “old” expectations. Queremos la Copa. There are no two ways about it.

From what I’ve seen of Chivas recently, I think the fans can be pretty sure we have a solid team. All ‘profe’ Tena’s lines look solid and there is some great communication between them, something that was logically lacking at the beginning of the Apertura Season with so many new incorporations.

Tena’s Chivas looked strong during the Copa por Mexico and promise to become even stronger if they have the staying power I mentioned before.

If we summarize the Copa’s results in a nutshell, Chivas defeated Atlas (costumbre), lost to Tigres, defeated Mazatlan and America, and lost to Cruz Azul.

Our offensive line looks extremely promising. Amongst JJ (4), Angulo (2), Vega (2), ‘Cone’ (1), and Zaldivar (1), Chivas scored 10 goals! This is mucho bueno! Something Guadalajara sorely lacks is offensive power. We can dominate the whole game but this is a game of goals. The guy with the most canicas at the end, wins.

Our Midfield and Defense need some tuning, the number of balls which visited the back of our net is definitely something no bueno, but also understandable. With the constant counter attacks being run by Chivas with its greased lightning midfield there are bound to be some spaces left behind which is something Mier, ‘Tiba’, ‘Chapo’ and Ponce need to work on of course but it isn’t only up to them. Beltran, Molina, Angulo, Antuna and Brizuela have fine tuned the midfield, moving from defense to offense at lightning speed but still need to work on backtracking faster to better support the defensive wingers who rushed forward.

Over all, Chivas left an extremely good impression on me. Now, our boys need to show friends and foes alike that they are made of the Right Stuff. By Right Stuff I mean the physical and mental strength to obtain the Staying Power I referred to before. Great teams always have ups or downs, but they maintain a consistency throughout. If Chivas are able to hold out we should be seeing them in the playoffs.The Right Stuff is what greatness is made of and those which wish to transcend are obligated to show what they are made of.

Note: Contrary to a good number of reactionaries on social media, the Copa por Mexico was the perfect stage to test the new reality that the Liga MX will be dealing with at least for the next six months. Those reactionaries mention it was an unreasonable risk to let teams participate in the Copa, as it put the players in a position deemed an unnecessary health risk. In truth the logic behind this point is true. Health should be at the forefront of everything.

On the other hand people also need to think of the Beautiful Game as a business. As any successful business which encounters challenges revisions need to be made and procedures must be put in place to check and safeguard the health of players before and after each game. It will be the norm until the virus can be combated in another way. This is the reality of Post Pandemic Futbol and it is naive to think that the league that gives work to so many should be put on hold indefinitely.