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Match

Marcador del partit

  • Date: Sunday, 03 Aug
  • Competition: ???label.competicio25???
  • Stadium: Chicago, Illinois
  • XML File: Data

Resultat:

  • Chivas: 2
  • FC Barcelona: 5

Match report

Match Report

Goals

0-1 Xavi (min 25)
0-2 Hleb (min 45)
0-3 Eto’o (min 48)
1-3 Padilla (min 58)
1-4 Eto’o (min 72)
2-4 Hernández (min 88)
2-5 Cáceres (min 89)

Cautions

Bojan (min 55)
Araujo (min 69)

Substitutions

FC Barcelona
Solís out, Araujo in (min 26)
Reynoso out, Ledesma in (min 46)
Morales out, Mejía in (min 46)
Medina out, Baez in (min 46)
Ávila out, Padilla in (min 46)
Magallón out, Nava in (min 53)
Olvera out, Fabian in (min 59)
Pineda out, J. Hernández in (min 59)

Chivas
Márquez out, Puyol in (min 46)
Hleb out, Gudjohnsen in (min 46)
Iniesta out, Eto'o in (min 46)
Henry out, Bojan in (min 46)
Pedro out, Jeffren in (min 46)
Alvés out, Piqué in (min 61)
Xavi out, S. Busquets in (min 61)
Jeffren out, Sylvinho in (min 67)
Keita out, M. Crosas in (min 75)

Goalfest in the USA (2-5)

Jordi Clos

Barça won their first friendly in the USA against Mexican outfit Chivas, and did in style. Xavi, Hleb, Eto’o, twice, and Cáceres provided five goals to delight the Chicago crowd.

Messi may not have been there, but Barça showed Chivas of Guadalajara that then can still win convincingly without their Argentinian hero. It was never going to be an easy task, the Mexican side has some class players, have been together longer and were well motivated for the game. But Barça were clear about their ideas both in attack and defence, and avoided any nasty surprises with a solid first half performance, with two goals from Xavi and Hleb. The second half was a more open affair, but with several interruptions, and towards the end of the game the goals really started flowing, with the game ending 5-2 to the Catalans.

Gaining ground

After Chivas got off to an impetuously strong start, in which they made it clear that they were in no way overawed by facing the Liga giants, Guardiola’s side started imposing their superior skills, and Chivas’ early confidence took a knock. Barça once again demonstrated that the good results of their work on getting the ball out of defence, and played a fast passing game with some lethal piercing runs that caused the Mexican side all kinds of headaches. Pedro enjoyed the first opportunity, in the 11th minute, with a fine effort from the edge of the area that struck the bar and rebounded back into play off the goal line. A tight midfield formed by Keita, Xavi and Iniesta continued to link well with the forwards, and in the 24th minute Henry saw a shot sail over the bar by a matter of inches.

Goals from Xavi and Hleb

Barça seemed to be enjoying the medium distance shots, and that was how the first goal came about. A great play by Iniesta down the left followed by a Xavi strike put the Europeans ahead after 25 minutes. Barça were well in command by now, and Iniesta and Hleb both had chances before combining to produce the second goal. Shortly before the break, the Spaniard laid on a delightful assist to the Belarusian, who rounded the keeper and stoked the ball home unchallenged.

Eto’o on fire

The Barça boss made five half-time changes, and one of the new incorporations, Samuel Eto’o, only needed three minutes to make it three, the goal coming off an excellent move down the right by young Jeffren. But this time, Chivas did conjure up a response, first through a Pineda header off a free kick, and then Padilla took advantage of a rare confusion in the Barça defence to beat Pinto in the 58th minute.

More goals to end

As the legs tired and the structure of the game was affected by the introduction of further changes, the final minutes brought about a rush of goals. Barça put the game well out of Mexican reach in the 72nd minute when an opportunistic Eto’o grabbed his second of the night, but then Hernández pulled one back for Chivas at the other end. The game had barely restarted before Martin Cáceres made it 5-2 off a corner, with just seconds left on the clock. Yet another highly convincing performance from Barça, then, as the preseason continues to raise optimism for what the season under Guardiola has in store for the fans.


Preview

Previous meeting

FC Barcelona and Chivas met during the Blaugrana's previous tour of the United States. The game in Los Angeles ended 1-1 with Eidur Gudjohnsen putting Barça ahead in the 74th minute before Diego Martínez levelled seven minutes from the end.

First test in the United States

Jordi Clos

FC Barcelona take on Mexican giants Chivas in the middle of Sunday night (1am on Monday morning, live on Barça TV) in the Catalan club's first game of their tour of the United States and they will be hoping to keep their winning run going.

After playing three friendlies in Europe, Barça now participate in two more matches across the Pond. Pep Guardiola's team began in Scotland with a 6-0 win against Hibernian before going just one less in the 5-1 victory over Dundee United two days later. Last Wednesday, Fiorentina were beaten 3-1 in Italy and now the Blaugrana's confidence and fitness is high.

Double training

Despite being on tour, the squad has not lost any rhythm thanks in the main to the physical nature of Pep Guardiola's pre-season regime this year. With double training session almost every day, the players fitness levels are rising rapidly. There are exercise and physical sessions in the morning and then tactical practices in the afternoon.

Without Messi

hibernian-fcb1_x4x.jpgThe game against Chivas is important because there are only ten games left before the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers. Like in Florence, Barça will continue to see their team truly take shape under the new coach and will want to build on the 14 goals scored and just two conceded. Lionel Messi is not available for this encounter after being told by FIFA that he must travel to China to begin to prepare for the Olympic Games with Argentina later this month. Víctor Sánchez or Víctor Vázquez will be able to play either after incurring ankle injuries in training.

Season has begun

Chivas from Guadalajara are already playing their official season and have played two matches in the Torneo Clausura as well as being in contention for the Copa Sudamericana. Despite the game being a friendly, the coach of the Mexican outfit, Efraín Torres, said that the encounter with Barça has generated a lot of excitement against what he described as "one of the best teams in the world". Chivas can expect to have the majority of the support in Soldier Field.