Three minutes was all it took
Ruben Gonzalez crossed, Santiago Sandoval met it in the middle of the box and the header went into the top left corner. Guadalajara led Pumas UNAM before either side had settled, and the shape of the night was set overnight at the Estadio Akron.
Pumas spent the rest of the first half trying to make the game something other than what it had become. They kept the ball reasonably well and got nowhere with it. Nothing landed on the Chivas goalkeeper that required a serious save.
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Sandoval settles it from distance
The second goal arrived on 56 minutes and it was a different kind of finish altogether. Angel Sepulveda laid the ball back, Sandoval took a touch outside the box and hit it left-footed into the top right corner. A header and a strike from range in the same match, which is not a combination many forwards in this league produce across a whole campaign.
Eleven minutes later Efrain Alvarez found Bryan Gonzalez on the left. The angle was awkward and the finish was better than the position deserved, curled with the left foot into the top left corner. Three goals, three different types of goal, and Pumas were beaten well before the final whistle.
Where it leaves both sides
Guadalajara move to 17 points from eight matches. Five wins, two draws, one defeat. For a club whose recent tournaments have been defined by slow starts and early damage control, an eight-game run at better than two points per match changes the conversation entirely.
Pumas sit on 11 from the same eight games, with three wins, two draws and three defeats. The concern is less the result than the manner of it. They conceded inside three minutes, never threatened an equaliser, and were picked off twice more by a side that did not need to play especially well to win comfortably.
Chivas have found a scorer. That has been the missing piece for longer than anyone at the Akron wants to count.
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