Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Red Bulls Shut Out By Chivas, Out Of CONCACAF Champions League



Chivas celebrates after the final whistle. Photo by Jason Schott.



The Red Bulls and Chivas de Guadalajara played to a scoreless draw on Tuesday night in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Semfinal, and by virtue of their 1-0 win in the first leg last week, Chivas will be moving on to the Final.

Incredibly, Chivas won this one with superb defense, as they did not give an inch. If it looked at times that the Red Bulls had an opening, there were as many as three defenders there to cover.




The Chivas goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota did a tremendous job, as he played aggressively and was in complete command of the game much the way his counterpart, Luis Robles of the Red Bulls, does.
The Red Bulls did everything but score, as they held advantages in every category over Chivas, 20-1 in shots, 9-0 shots on target, 6-3 corners, and 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent on possession.
The Red Bulls came out firing and their first big chance came in the seventh minute when Bradley Wright-Phillips send a nice pass to Tim Parker, who just missed curling one inside the right post. On the ensuing corner kick, Kemar Lawrence fired a blast just wide of the left post. Lawrence hit the deck afterwards as his feet got tangled with a Chivas defender, but he would stay in the game.
In the 19th minute, Daniel Royer came down the right side of the box, and fired a cross that got by the Chivas goalkeeper Cota, but it was a little high for a sliding Lawrence to corral by the left post.
In the second half, Derrick Etienne fired a shot from 20 yards out over the crossbar.
In the 91st minute, it looked like Aaron Long got a header by Cota, but he got a hand on it at the last second to preserve the lead.
It was nearly a sellout, as the attendance was 23,623, with a heavy presence from Chivas fans.
Chivas moves on to the Champions league Final, where they will take on Toronto, who beat Club America of Mexico in their semifinal matchup.
Robles recorded his third shutout of SCCL and fifth of the year. Of Robles' five clean sheets, four have come at Red Bull Arena.
The Red Bulls return to MLS play this Saturday at 1 pm against Montreal at Red Bull Arena.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment