Tecos relegated, Chivas part with coach
Tecos have the worst record of any of the top teams over the past three years and are subsequently “relegated” to the second division, where they will now face their historical rivals, the Leones Negros – the team owned by the city’s public university, la Universidad de Guadalajara.
Having won promotion in 1975, the team owned by the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG) had spent 37 consecutive years in Mexico’s top flight, winning a solitary championship in 1994.
Meanwhile, Chivas, Guadalajara’s best known club, has dispensed with coach Ignacio Ambriz after enduring six straight defeats in the domestic league and the Copa Libertadores. Legendary Dutch advisor Johan Cruyff is expected to appoint the next manager and overhaul the club’s transfer policy, tactics and training regime ahead of the new season. (edit: Cruyff has now appointed former Ajax player John Van’t Schipas the new coach. More to follow shortly.)
With Chivas out of the race for the playoffs and rivals Atlas now safe from relegation, there will be no more than local pride at stake in Saturday’s derby between the two teams, known as the “Clasico Tapatio.” Expect a raucous atmosphere nonetheless.
Note: I have started doing more football journalism of late, contributing to “The View from Mexico” on Soccer365.com. I’ve mostly been producing match reports, previews and news stories relating to Mexico’s Primera Division and the CONCACAF Champions League. Here’s some of my recent pieces:
Mexico head to the Olympics on a high note
Mexico’s northen rivals to duel in CCL final
Santos, Monterrey lock horns for place in Club World Cup
Santos seek revenge in top of the table clash
My (probably overly ambitious) aim is to be a position where someone will pay to send me to Brazil to cover the 2014 World Cup.
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