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Copa Chivas Blog # 6
Written by Andrew Ziemer, Tecnico Asistente , Chivas USA
Wednesday, Jan. 30 , 2008 – Guadalajara , Jalisco, Mexico
Copa Chivas Website - http://www.copachivas.com/
Chivas USA vs Tigres , 10am – Verde Valle
Chivas USA – System – First 1⁄2 - In Ball possession - 1:4:4:2, Ball
possession opponent 1:4:4:2, 2nd 1⁄2 - 1:3:4:3 in both moments.
Tigres – System - In Ball possession - 1:4:4:2, Ball possession opponent 1:4:4:2
We met for breakfast in anticipation of our last group game of thetournament against Tigres. The vibe was still great from the previous day’s match against Carracas.We had several players who were banged up or tired and others who had not played much, so we made few changes.
Nikos Acosta and Hugo Sanchez started in the back for Omar Elmasri and Rod Fahmian. AJ Rocha came in the midfield and Polo Morales started up front.The boys started very slow and Tigres was taking it to us. Omar and Rod’s size was missed in the defense and Tigress was playing very direct and causing problems. We dodged several bullets and kept it 0-0 until the 15th minute when Tigrescapitalized off some poor defending and all around not so sharp play by the entire Chivas USA team.
After the goal, the boys picked up the intensity and ended the half at 0-1.Although we were not our best, we had still created several opportunities and knew if we picked it up, we had a chance to comeback into the game.
At half time we talked about making the field smaller (compact) when the opponent had the ball and pressure the forward pass. In ball possession, we were already in position to win the 2nd balls because we were not so spreadout and then we could play in the 1⁄2 of the opponent.
The coaching staff felt that we needed to change to 3 in the back, but wanted to start with 4 and bring our #4 (Omar) into the midfield and whenpossible or necessary switch to our base system of 1:3:4:3. Before the boys went on the pitch we told them that it was the last chanceto impress Preki and all the Chivas Guadalajara scouts as well as the otherscouts and agents who were in the stands.
All of the boys agreed that they could take it to another level and that they did not want to play their last 35 minutes with less than they could offer individually and as a team.
From the kickoff, we were on fire and going at Tigres. We were knocking and knocking and finally in the 48th minute Polo Morales received a ball on the left side about 25 meters from the goal and dribbled towards the center andcracked a shot in the upper right hand corner. He ran to Sacha and jumped in his arms and the entire team and bench formed a group and celebrated as atrue unit.
This trip has been a true team building experience with every player putting the teams needs before their own.We peppered the goal and almost scored off of shots from Jose Diaz, MikeMuniz, Mario Ledezma. It was only a matter of time that the 2nd goal would
come, but instead it came from them.
On a corner kick Polo Morales jumped to head a ball out and was hit from behind and the ball hit his hand. They scored the PK and went ahead 1-2.The boys were determined not to lose the game and grabbed the ball, kicked off and went after them with no mercy.
With 6 minutes to play, Gerson Mayer turned from a throw-in and slid a perfect ball into the path of Mario Ledezma who slotted it home low in thefar corner. 2 -2!!!! Although we gave it everything to score the winner, we could not find it andthe game ended in a tie.
After the game, we felt so positive and everyone was talking about how great we played. It could have easily been 5 -2.Without knowing it, we later found out that Jorge Vergara (President ofChivas), Nestor de la Torre (Vice-President of Chivas) and Angelica Fuentes (General Director of Omni-Life) were all in the stands and were veryimpressed with the 2nd half performance.
The nice thing was that we played our last Futbol within the Chivas USA Vision. entertaining, attacking,high pressure, possession Futbol in the half of the opponent and with 3 Forwards.Many of our players have caught the eye of Thomas Rongen (U.S. 20 NationalTeam Coach), Jaime Pajarito (Head scout of Chivas Guadalaja) and scouts from around the world.
As much as we would like to win the tournament, the main objective for Chivas USA Youth Development is to prepare as many players as possible for the first team and National Team Selections. In this way, it was a huge success. Chivas Guadalara first team players were coming out from training , JorgeVergara was giving a press conference and hundreds of fans were around inanticipation of the 1:00pm games.
The plan was to stay and watch the Chivas Guadalara vs Tauichi game. Chivas came out on fire and within 15 minutes it was 3-0.Chivas has a #10 named Salazar who is only 17 and has played with the firstteam. He had a hat trick and after 5 games is the leading scorer with 9 goals. This is more than twice that of the next player with 3 playersscoring 4 goals apiece. No one was even a threat for the Golden Boot Award.
After the game we went back and ate and rested until the Pre-Copa
Libertadores game Atlas – La Paz de Bolivia at 8:10pm.
The game was not the greatest, but the environment was incredible. Atlas has a very loyal fans and they sing the entire game.Once again, it proved to us another reason that more U.S. teams need to travel to foreign tournaments and immerse themselves in “true soccer cultures”.The staff decided to let the boys stay up until 1am, but the boys were so tired most of them turned after a short trip to the taco stand or gas station for a snack.Thursday will be the first day off and we will go to San Juan de Dios (hugeflea market), play a voetvolley/tennis tournament and go bowling at night.Plenty of Futbol to come with 2 friendlies, the money rounds of Copa Chivasand the final game at Estadio Jalisco Saturday night Chivas – Morelia.
It was sad that the tournament was over for us, but it was still a big success in many ways.Over the next few days, I plan to have a blog “Lessons from Copa Chivas”based on what we felt were the key learning moments for the players , team and coaching staff.
Between a busy schedule here at Copa Chivas, working each day on my manyfunctions with several clubs and writing the daily blog, I too need a day off , so I am signing off until Friday.Saludos,
Andrew Ziemer
Chivas USA Starting Line-up :
Position # 1 - Goalkeeper - Juan Quiroz
Defenders – Position # 2 - Nikolas Acosta, Position # 3 - Hugo Sanchez,
Position # 4 - Omar Becera , Position # 5 – Jose Diaz
Midfielders –, Position # 6 Gerson Mayen, - Position #7 Position - Cesar
Zamora , , # 8 - Jesse Paredes, Position # 10 - Armando Rocha
Forwards – Position #7 - Mario Ledezma, Position #9 Leopoldo (Polo) Morales
Substitutions – Chivas USA
1⁄2 time –
Clayton Eaton for Nikolas Acosta
Rod Fahmian for Hugo Sanchez
Michael Muniz for Cesar Zamora
45 minute
Arnaldo Salazar for Armando Rocha
Copa Chivas Results : http://www.copachivas.com/estadistica/resultado/
Results in Group D :
Chivas USA 2 – Tigres 2
Carracas 0 – Atletico Juventud 1
Autlan 2 – Necaxa 1
Points in Group D :
Atletico Juventud – 12 pts
Necaxa – 9pts
Carracas – 7 pts
Autlan – 6 pts
Chivas USA – 4pts
Tigres – 4 pts
Atletico Juventud and Necaxa advance to the next round.
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