Chivas decimate Mazatlan in what was a porous showing from the new Sinaloan club and show the new club have many things to work on, especially defensively.
The game started with Chivas having Mazatlan F.C on their back foot in the first few minutes. After a corner kick was brought into their box and Chivas young defender Gilberto ‘Tibu’ Sepulveda got a header on it towards an empty net as the Mazatlan goalkeeper Miguel Fraga extended himself and fell into a crowd of players, unfortunately, the header went wide left. The game was still 0-0
That would be one of many more opportunities Chivas had. Including a shot taken outside of the left side of the box by Jesus Angulo scoring after the shot took a deflection, with the shot landing at the top right of the goal, continuing his hot streak, and pleading his case for Chivas coach Fernando Tena to start him. Chivas were up 1-0.
Chivas didn’t stop as Mazatlan looked weak moving forward with Chivas having a huge amount of possession, Isaac ‘Conejo’ Brizuela came down on the outside of the box where he was pressed by a couple of Mazatlan defenders and he put in the perfect cross to J.J Macias who decided to head it low and to the right corner of the post, and the Mazatlan keeper got a couple of fingers on it, but the potency of the header made it cross the goal line. Chivas were up 2-0
Then the play that really encapsulated the night was Mazatlan’s right back passed it back to another defender as they tried to play out from the back and the Mazatlan defender completely botched the reception of the ball as he was under pressure by Chivas striker J.J Macias. The ball gets lost and J.J Macias gained possession rushing towards a goalkeeper who tries to come out of the box and gets a hand on the Macias’s shot but Macias was still able to slot it home. Chivas were up 3-0.
Mazatlan was able to score a girl, but it was too little too late and it was scored on Raul Gudino so honestly, does it even count? Jokes aside this Mazatlan squad coached under Paco Palencia was dominated and it’s understandable a lot of substitutions were on Mazatlan’s side, specifically the goalkeepers, which was strange. Chivas only took out Antonio Rodriguez for Raul Gudino and this is pre-season, but it’s alarming when Mazatlan or any club has a showing as this. Not to mention Mazatlan wasn’t at full strength due to two of their players testing positive for Covid-19, which is a whole other alarming issue.
Chivas will be in the playoffs of the GNP cup due to their two wins out of three, where they will face either Tigres or Atlas but you can take a good guess that it will probably be Tigres. Mazatlan on the other hand bows out of the tournament and Paco Palencia has a lot of work to do, but whether this was a real showing of the team’s potential or what they are capable of has yet to be seen.