Monday 25 May 2015

Santos Laguna dominate Chivas Guadalajara to reach Liga MX final

Nestor Calderon celebrates after scoring a 40-yard stunner for Santos Laguna

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Santos Laguna overcame Chivas 3-0 on Sunday at the Estadio Omnilife to reach the Liga MX Clausura 2015 final, following the 0-0 draw in the first leg on Thursday.
Djaniny Tavares opened the scoring in the 38th minute, with Carlos Izquierdoz heading in the second in the 56th minute and Nestor Calderon launching a 40-yard wonder-strike over keeper Luis Michel in the 68th minute to wrap up a famous victory for the Torreon-based club.
Chivas never really got going and won't be leveling rival Club America's 12 titles this season.

Santos Laguna deserved it over the two legs

Whatever you could say about Santos scraping into the liguilla on the last day of the regular season thanks to results falling for them elsewhere, Pedro Caixinha's team deserve to be in the final on the basis of its playoff performance.
The aggressive, pressing game suffocated Chivas on Sunday, completely stopping the home team playing. Unlike in the first leg, Santos Laguna capitalized following an Israel Castro mistake (for Djaniny's goal) and a set-piece (Izquierdoz's).
From the first whistle, Santos were first to the ball, a step quicker than Chivas and more confident in how he would approach getting the result. The Guadalajara side had no response and things got worse after halftime when coach Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre had to throw caution to the wind. When he threw striker Aldo de Nigris on for defensive midfielder Castro, the momentum didn't shift and only opened up more space for Santos to attack.
This is a Santos institution who got rid of star players Darwin Quintero, Oribe Peralta, Juan Pablo Rodriguez and Oswaldo Sanchez over the past 12 months and of whom little was expected this Clausura. It was supposed to be a season of transition, and in the regular season it often felt that way.
But other players have risen to take their places and the team is arguably a better unit for it, with the intensity for all to see and the players playing for each with a cohesion that wasn't there before.
Cape Verde international Djaniny -- the player of the match -- netted the first goal and was a constant threat; the versatile Calderon looks like national team material and netted a goal that will be featured in media outlets around the world; pinning the whole team together is Jesus Molina, who completely stifled Marco Fabian once again, while goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin came up with the saves when it mattered.
Caixinha has now guided his team to three semifinals and one final in five seasons in charge of the club. That's some achievement from the Portuguese coach, given his lack of experience in the Mexican game and the upheaval in the playing squad of late.

Chivas never got going

While a large slice of credit has to go to Santos for stopping Chivas playing, the Guadalajara club didn't show up in either leg of the semi.
De la Torre's decision to pick Giovani Hernandez left people scratching their heads, with the player low on confidence and eventually booed off in the second half.
For much of the first half, it simply seemed like Chivas were settling for a 0-0 score, but it was always a dangerous game to play and as soon as Djaniny scored, the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Chivas needed to be bolder and more inventive in their passing to evade the Santos press, but couldn't get to grips with the away side over the 180 minutes. For an institution that prides itself on producing technically good players, it was strange to see Chivas struggle so much. It is perhaps no surprise that Santos are now unbeaten in eight against Sunday's rivals.
In front of more than 42,000 fans, some of which had queued for hours for tickets, this was a major letdown.

Season overall a positive for Chivas

When the hangovers and anger wear off, the bottom line of this Clausura 2015 for Chivas will have been positive. The club's main priority was to avoid relegation and that was achieved with time to spare.
De la Torre may not always have made popular decisions, but he did guide his team to a semifinal, saw his team top the regular-season table for a couple of weeks, reach a Copa MX final and smash local rivals Atlas 4-1 in a quarterfinal second leg that will go down in the folklore of the game.
Of the players, youngsters such as Raul Lopez and Carlos Salcedo are genuine quality, Carlos Fierro again showed some spark, while Jair Pereira could be a future club captain.
A busy summer awaits De la Torre, but it looks very much like Chivas are back, after years of struggling and not making playoffs.

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