El Clasico games are always highly anticipated, and a lot of times under deliver. Of course, we’re referring to El Clasico games in Liga MX which are between Chivas, and Club America. Not Barcelona vs Real Madrid although the matchup receives the same moniker in Spain. In any case, this matchup between Club America and Chivas that is set to take place Saturday night has received a lot of attention from the press. Maybe much more so than in other years because unlike other seasons it seems like both teams are coming into the game playing well.
Chivas’ chances may have taken a hard hit after they got beat down badly by Tigres. The 4-1 final score though may not be an accurate reflection of what happened on the field. For the first 20 minutes of the game Chivas outplayed Tigres by quite a wide margin they just couldn’t find the back of the net. Club America on the other hand didn’t look all that great against Santos. Keep in mind this was a Santos squad coming off a draw with Queretaro, the worst team in the league. What can we really expect from the matchup Saturday night?
Chivas Needs To Avoid A Repeat Of The Tigres Game
This is the most obvious statement that we’ve probably ever uttered on this site. Of course, Chivas needs to avoid conceding 4 goals it’s really hard to win if you keep conceding so many goals every week. We’re not just talking about the result though. In many ways the Tigres game was Chivas’ worst case scenario. You’re dominating a team that is considered to be very solid across the board, but since you can’t find the back of the net they catch you flat-footed on a counter and make you pay.
Chivas can’t afford to have their midfield players just focus on offense and not get back defensively. There’s an argument to be made that Club America is more capable of making you pay than Tigres is. Just take a look at the 7-0 rout of Cruz Azul for reference. We don’t necessarily think that Ricardo Cadena will feature a more conservative Chivas lineup, and to be honest that is concerning. If they don’t sure up that defensive midfield position they could be in a lot of trouble. There are two ways that we can see this playing out, either Chivas scores early and keeps the game close or they get really blown out of the water again!
Who We Would Put Money On
America vs Chivas is one of the games that we featured in our picks of the weekend for Liga MX. To be honest we picked the game based on the importance of the matchup, and not necessarily because we liked the odds. These games tend to tighten up quite a bit because teams are worried about making that big mistake. Even though we don’t expect Cadena to be more conservative players on the pitch may be more cognizant of the fact that they need to get back on defense.
With that in mind, and taking into account Club America’s most recent games we like the tie at +260. There’s a concern that Club America has not been as solid defensively as of late. So maybe for the sake of the viewers this game will turn into a blow for blow slug fest. It’s going to be featured before the Canelo Alvarez fight, so that would be a good prequel to the fight! A lot of these clasico games end in a draw. We are thinking that’s going to happen again.
