Chivas dominate Tigres to book their ticket to the Semifinals

The 2nd half started with Tigres subbing out Diego Sanchez for Diego Lainez. A cross from Alonso Gonzalez would turn into a shot that Guzman saved. A shot from Govea from outside the area was deflected right to Guzman.Tigres subbed out Rodrigo Aguirre for Vladimir Loroña. Juan Pablo Vigon was injured and had to be subbed out. Rafael Guerrero took his spot. A cross into the area was deflected but right to Guzman. Chivas subbed out Jose Castillo for Miguel Gomez. A cross into the area from Ruben Gonzalez was cleared by Guzman before two Chivas attackers could get a close range chance. A right footed shot from Gomez was cleared by a defender. A right footed shot by Marin would be deflected from close range by Santiago Sandoval and it would go past Guzman to score and give Chivas the 1-0 lead. The goal finally arrived after Chivas had dominated the match. A cross into the area from Govea would be brilliantly headed by Santiago Sandoval, as it went past Guzman to score and give Chivas the 2-0 lead. In a couple of minutes, Chivas changed the match and the series and now they were the ones off to the Semifinals. Richard Ledezma got off a low shot that went wide. Tigres subbed out Jesus Alberto Angulo and Jesus Garza for Andre Pierre Gignac and Marcelo Flores. A great thru pass found Juan Brunetta but his right footed shot was brilliantly saved by Whalley. A cross into the area was headed by Gignac but Whalley made another save. Chivas subbed out Richard Ledezma and Ricardo Marin for Gilberto Sepulveda and Sergio Aguayo. A cross into the area was lowered into the path of Flores, who got off a left footed shot from close range that went wide. After a strong foul by Francisco Reyes on Gonzalez, the referee would go to VAR and give the Tigres player a red card. Down to 10 players, it looked like Tigres’ night was over. Chivas subbed out Efrain Alvarez and Santiago Sandoval for Yael Padilla and Mickey Tapias. A 1 vs 1 had Aguayo with a great chance for a goal but his lobbed shot went over Guzman but wide. The match would end and Chivas got the result they needed to go thru to the Semifinals.

After a 3-1 result in the first leg, Chivas looked to be in real danger of going out. Not only had Tigres crushed them by a 4-1 score in the regular season but Chivas were missing key players because of the World Cup, as they were already in Mexico’s training camp. Yet Chivas surprised by dominating the match from the first minute against a Tigres side that was too defensive. Tigres didn’t showed urgency on the attack until it was too late and then they went down to 10 players. Meanwhile Chivas had problems up top but Santiago Sandoval came thru to write his name in Chivas’ liguilla history with the two goals. Still Chivas will have a lot tougher task against a Cruz Azul that had a great series against Atlas and looks to be clicking in the liguilla. To make things worse, they were the team that eliminated Chivas from last season’s Liguilla. Chivas will need to improve because it’s doubtful they would give a performance like the one Tigres gave.