Marin Penalty Seals Narrow Victory for Chivas
Santos Laguna hosted Guadalajara Chivas in the fourth round of Liga MX's Apertura, and the visitors claimed a 1-0 win at Estadio TSM Corona. The match was decided by a single moment in the seventy-fifth minute when Ricardo Marin converted a penalty. By then, the visitors had already controlled much of the tempo, but the hosts refused to yield easily. And here's the thing — this was the kind of game where one chance matters more than possession.
Guadalajara came in fifth with eleven points from six games, while Santos Laguna sat seventeenth on a solitary point after five defeats and one draw. The visitors had been inconsistent themselves — a win against Seattle, a loss to Dallas, and two draws — but they showed up when it counted. To be fair, Santos Laguna had started brightly enough, beating Philadelphia 2-0 before losing three straight. This time, though, they couldn't find the breakthrough.
The only goal came from Marin's spot-kick in the seventy-fifth minute. He was later substituted for Camberos, who had come on for Carrillo in the sixty-fourth. Both sides made plenty of changes — Ledezma and Aguirre for Santos at the fifty-third minute, Lopez and Gonzalez for Chivas at sixty-six. The hosts also brought on Gutierrez and Orona, while Marin himself came off in the eighty-first. It was a game that demanded fresh legs.
Guadalajara dominated the numbers. They held 62 per cent possession, created one big chance, and registered 1.58 expected goals. Santos Laguna managed just 0.71 expected goals and failed to create a single clear opportunity. The hosts had 38 per cent possession and managed only two shots on target — one of which was saved. And here's the thing about matches like this: the scoreboard doesn't always tell the full story, but sometimes it tells exactly what you need.
The visitors moved further clear of the relegation zone while Santos Laguna remain rooted to the bottom. They have not won in six games now, and the gap to safety is growing. A yellow card for Cuevas in stoppage time was the only booking for either side, and Santos Laguna also had a red card to account for — though the exact moment isn't recorded in the data. The result leaves Chivas in fifth and Santos Laguna searching for answers.