Photo: Etzel Espinoza / Imago7
By: EFE Posted May 24, 2023, 1:20 pm EDT
The Spanish Fernando Hierro was announced last October as the new sports president of Chivas de Guadalajara and In his first statements he promised to restore greatness to the teamsomething that he is close to achieving less than a year after taking office by putting the team two games away from the thirteenth Liga MX title in its history.
“Chivas is a giant that we have the obligation to excite again”pointed out the legendary central defender of Real Madrid and the Spanish team when asked about the message for the more than 40 million fans of CD Guadalajara.
The achievement that Hierro achieved was not even achieved by Johan Cryuff, when in 2012 he headed the sports project of the second most winning club in Mexico and the one with the most fans according to the latest survey by the consulting firm Query Mitofsky.
The Negative comments against Hierro doubled after his appointment because he left his duties during the Qatar 2022 World Cup to be part of the Telemundo analysts in the highest competition. Other aspect is that did not like the appointment of the Serbian-Spanish Veljko Paunovic as the club’s coachuntil now an unknown not only in Jalisco, but in Mexico.
The criticism did not stop, despite the fact that Chivas never left the first nine places in the classification of the regular phase of the Clausura 2023 Tournament.
It was not until Guadalajara closed the regular phase in third place in the table and for the first time, since the play-offs were reinstated, they qualified directly to the quarterfinals that they gained some supporters, who said that Chivas had already compliment for returning to finish a tournament among the top three in the table.
Fernando Hierro never answered the criticism and has opted to keep a low profile, away from the focus of the press so that the protagonists are his players and Paunovic.
The decisions, so far, have paid off, with Guadalajara reaching their first final in seven years, something Cruyff failed to achieve in 2012, when the furthest he took the team was a quarterfinal.
Hierro has the possibility of giving more credit to his Chivas project in the final against the UANL Tigres, which has the third most powerful roster in Mexico, worth $71.6 million dollars.
The first leg of the title series will be played this Thursday at the Tigers stadium and the second leg this Sunday, at the Akron Stadium, home of the Flock
Just the last time Chivas won a title, they did it against the Tigres. If he did it again, the Hierro club would reach 13 league trophies and tie its greatest rival, the Águilas del América, the second team with the most fans in the country, as the most winning team in Mexico.
Keep reading:
– Paunovic and Chivas will not have Carlos Cisneros for the 2023 Clausura final of Liga MX against Tigres
– “You are what I need and I am what you need”: Alan Pulido publishes a mysterious phrase to… return to Chivas?
– The grandmother of Chivas de Guadalajara who captivated social networks with her celebration