JALISCO, México -- It could have been an historic number of goals. As historic as the deep soccer crisis that América is going through.
Although Chivas owned the 200th classic game -- beating their eternal rival by 3-2 -- they forgave more than expected and contributed in that manner to minimize an embarrassment that at this stage would have been catastrophic.
The interesting thing about the classic revolved around the match between the overall leader (We're talking about Chivas) hosting the last-place team, in this case as hard as it is to believe, América at Estadio Jalisco.
But because any individual classic knows nothing about the numbers, positions or the history, everything led to the thinking that this match in particular was going to be a good measurement to prove that the abysmal differences in the general table were fiction. Totally wrong.
What was shown in the field was the loyal reflection of reality. On one side, the armed team, with a defined style and conviction of the lead role and serious contender to take the title. On the other hand, a group of disoriented players, pressured by its present and barely a few with the pride of wearing the jersey of a grand team.
Chivas had the game totally controlled. It was ahead 3-0 on two goals by Sergio Santana and another by Sergio Ávila. And it could have been more, but the figure of the only standout América player -- named Salvador Cabañas -- appeared, and with two goals made the Sacred Flock suffer during the last 10 minutes, including when the Águilas played with 10 men.
It is true that América does have several important players injured and/or suspended, but either way, nobody can deny the soccer deficiency shown throughout the Clasura Tournament from a team that has already said good-bye to any hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.
Its coach, Rubén Romano, had admitted that the team does not have the physical strength to participate in two tournaments at the same time, keeping in mind its participation in the Libertadores Cup. Several of the players don't seem to heal from their injuries and the trips because good planning wasn't taken into consideration previous to the Interliga tournament.
For the statistics, out of the 200 classic games played, América has won 73 games, lost 62 and tied 65 times. However, in 130 regular tournament matches, Guadalajara holds the advantage: 47 won, 37 lost, and 46 tied.
América had won the last four classic matches, but this result cut the run short. In the local tournament, they obtained their tenth loss and hasn't won since the fourth week. The team has gained only eight out of the 42 points disputed thus far. Romanco stretched his personal negative record of 19 straight games without a win, counting his past experience coaching Atlas.
Guadalajara enjoys the tournament's overall lead with 29 points and has already qualified for the playoffs.
Both teams find themselves disputing the final phases of the first round of the Libertadores Cup. In that tournament, América has the better possibilities of going to the next round and at least save the honor, since they will visit Universidad Católica (Chile) and with a tie, or even losing 0-2 they go on.
Guadalajara has a more complicated future because it has to beat San José (Bolivia) and hope that Santos (Brazil) ties or loses against Deportivo Cúcuta (Colombia).
Internally, América's president Guillermo Cañedo White and Romano have already presented their resignation weeks ago, effective as of June 1. The club, going through one of the worse moments of its history, announced that it plans to go through a serious management, , team, and technical reorganization.
The rumors point to Argentina's Federico Insúa, who is still recuperating from his knee injury, as one of the few foreigners who will remain, and Salvador Cabañas. Even several of the national players on the actual roster would be on the exit list.