“El Clásico de Mexico,” the biggest soccer game in Mexico, was played between Mexico City’s “Club América” (8-3-1) vs Guadalajara’s “Chivas de Guadalajara” (5-3-4) at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena to a packed crowd on Oct. 5.
The two biggest teams in Mexico battled it out for the first time since 2018, where the game was last held at the LA Coliseum, which ended in a 1-1 draw. The 65-year-old rivalry ended this year in a clear 2-0 win for América.
Having just played each other in a Friendlies match last month on Sept. 15, where América dominated on their home turf 4-0, Chivas were looking to get redemption for their disastrous performance. The Chivas were also attempting to break their losing drought against América, since the team has only won one of their last five previous matchups.
Large crowds of Latino fans came to support their team and respective cities, donning Chivas and Club América merchandise, as well as country flags and Luchador masks assorted with the teams’ mascots, logos and colors.
Once the match began, both teams immediately put the pressure on one another attempting to obtain sole possession of the ball. As the minutes began to pile on, both teams continued to assert dominance on the field — constantly taking sole possession of the ball, while also making multiple attempts towards scoring or advancing towards their opponents goal post.
A quarter of the way through the game, the match took a drastic and fast paced turn when both teams made repeated attempts to score off one another.Every passing second having the ball was possessed by a different player and team, creating an anxious and energetic environment for both players, and fans.
Ultimately, Club América forward Julián Quiñones scored a beautiful goal from the tip of the penalty box, breaking the stale 0-0 score of the match.
Not long after, América defender Israel Reyes was hit with a powerful elbow, resulting in a large and bloody cut near the bottom of his eyebrow but was able to continue playing after some time.
At halftime band Los Tucanes de Tijuana played live in front of the packed stadium. Following their performance, America’s Quiñones once again scored for his team, becoming the sole scorer for the entirety of the game. Although he was later taken out of the game, the damage had already been done.
Chivas attempted to score for the remainder of the game, and while their attempts came drastically close, they were unable to succeed.
At one point, yellow and red smoke and fireworks started spouting from both sides of the stadium As the large red and white smoke began to grow cameras and players lost vision, causing the game to take a short pause.
Once the smoke settled and the fireworks stopped, the game began again with a promised 10 additional minutes for lost time. However by this point, fans began to shout Spanish insults at America and Chivas players — most notably at Chivas own goalie Miguel Jiménez.
As the verbal insults continued to grow and become almost unison in its loud chant, the referee abruptly ended the game at 90 minutes, suddenly taking away the promised 10 minutes from the fans due to their behavior. And with this, “El Classico de México” ended with an exciting 2-0 win for América and with a chaotic and fan focused end in the greater Los Angeles county.
Benjamin Flores is a Sports Intern for the fall 2023 quarter. He can be reached at floresbt@uci.edu.
