Chivas and Club America meet at Estadio Akron on Wednesday in the opening leg of the Liga MX playoff semifinals. The Eagles are unbeaten in seven ahead of this one after seeing off Pachuca while the Guadalajara outfit squeezed past Toluca in the quarterfinals over two legs. Fernando Gago’s men are unbeaten in 10 straight games across all competitions with seven wins while Andre Jardine’s side have not actually won in three outings and now go up against an outfit that has won its last three home games including two clean sheets. Overall, American have a strong record against Chivas of late with the hosts only winning five of their last 15 meetings with the visitors historically better with 26 wins from 59 encounters.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Wednesday, May 15 | Time: 10:05 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio Akron – Zapopan, Mexico
- TV: Universo andTelemundo: Live stream: Fubo (try for free)
- Odds: Chivas +188; Draw +210; America +130
Team news
Chivas: The main absentee that Gago will have to deal with is Raul Martinez who has a knee injury so will be unable to feature. Otherwise, there are no suspensions so the starting XI should be relatively strong.
Potential Chivas XI: Jose Rangel; Alan Mozo, Gilberto Sepulveda, Jesus Orozco, Jose Castillo; Erick Gutierrez, Fernando Beltran; Victor Guzman, Roberto Alvarado, Pavel Perez; Ricardo Marin.
America: Sebastian Caceres and Emilio Lara are out injured so Jardine will have to do without them. However, there are no suspended players so those two are the only absentees from what is otherwise a more or less healthy group.
Potential America XI: Luis Malagon; Israel Reyes, Igor Lichnovsky, Ramon Juarez, Cristian Calderon; Jonathan dos Santos, Alvaro Fidalgo; Javairo Dilrosun, Diego Valdes, Alex Zendejas; Henry Martin.
Prediction
America barely made it through the quarterfinals and will hope to be more convincing although Chivas are looking strong and will be tough opponents. A score draw sounds about right which sets it up nicely for the second leg. Pick: Chivas 1, America 1.
