Cruyff effect wears off for Guadalajara
Reuters - Sunday 15 April 2012, 15:26
The boost of signing Johan Cruyff as a
consultant has worn off for Mexican giants Guadalajara with a
run of five defeats in the league and Libertadores Cup.
The Chivas, who lost 2-1 at Tigres UANL and had three
players sent off on Saturday, are all but mathematically out of
the Clausura quarter-finals with two matches left in the league
phase of the championship. They sit 14th with 15 points from 15
matches.
The top eight in the standings go into the knockout phase
with Apertura champions Tigres, Santos Laguna, Morelia,
Monterrey and Guadalajara's arch-rivals America already
qualified.
Guadalajara went on a five-match unbeaten run immediately
after Dutch great Cruyff's appointment, which was aimed
essentially at an overhaul of the western club's youth scheme.
British media reports have linked Cruyff with the director
of football post vacated by Damien Comolli at Liverpool.
The Mexicans came unstuck in the Libertadores Cup, South
America's Champions League, in which they play as guests and
were runners-up two years ago.
A 1-0 defeat by Uruguay's Defensor Sporting at the end of
March heralded a run of five defeats in domestic and
international competition including a 1-0 home loss to the
Azteca stadium-based America in the "clasico", Mexico's biggest
match two weeks ago.
"[The players] feel frustrated because they made great
efforts, they didn't deserve this," Guadalajara's sporting
director Rafael Ortega said after Saturday's defeat.
"It pains me what's happening with Chivas but we'll keep
fighting and working to improve," he told Guadalajara's official
website.
"We made a bad start to the championship, that's what
affected us," he added in reference to Chivas taking only two
points from their first seven matches.
Guadalajara struck their first goal in five matches through
winger Omar Arellano in the 21st minute on Saturday as they had
the better of the first half at the Universitario but Chivas had
striker Erick Torres sent off in the 37th for a stamp on
defender Israel Jimenez.
The second half turned into a nightmare for Guadalajara as
their qualifying hopes all but ended. Carlos Salcido equalised
for Tigres in the 72nd and within a minute Chivas forward Marco
Fabian was dismissed for a second booking.
Brazilian central defender Juninho headed the winner from
Argentine playmaker Lucas Lobos's cross in added time and
Guadalajara's Jesus Sanchez was shown the red card for dissent.