Guadalajara Chivas saw off Pumas 3-0 in the eighth round of Liga MX's Apertura on Monday night. Santiago Sandoval opened the scoring inside three minutes, a start that set the tone for what followed. The hosts controlled proceedings from the first whistle and never looked back.
By then the visitors had already lost their footing. Sandoval's second strike came at the 56-minute mark, just after Pumas had made three changes in quick succession. Ángel Sepúlveda, Hugo Camberos and Omar Govea came on together, but the effort to alter the game had come too late.
They tried anyway, and to be fair the substitutions did create something of a shift. Carlos Antuna and Pedro Vite followed at 61 minutes, but Bryan Gonzalez had already made it 2-0 with a goal at 67 minutes. The visitors switched off at the back when it mattered, and the hosts ran riot.
We had called for a home win before kick-off, 50 per cent confidence at best, and that is exactly what happened. Not a surprise, really, when you look at the gap between the sides in the table. Chivas are unbeaten in five across all competitions; Pumas have won only once away from home this season.
Gonzalez's goal was enough to settle things, and Santiago Sandoval was replaced at 77 minutes to applause. Daniel Aguirre, Victor Arteaga and Olávio Vieira dos Santos Júnio also came on before Luciano Herrera was withdrawn at the death. Diego Campillo and Herrera both picked up yellows in the final ten minutes, but the result was never in doubt.
The statistics tell the same story. Chivas held 65 per cent possession, created three big chances and registered five shots on target. Pumas managed just one big chance and had their shots accuracy at a third. Expected goals came in at 0.86 to 0.5, and the difference in attacks — 105 to 88 — was telling.
The win moves Chivas to 17 points from eight games, still second in the table. Pumas remain in 11th place with 11 points, three wins and three losses. The hosts have now won three straight, while the visitors have lost two of their last four away fixtures. That is the kind of form that separates the top half from the rest.