Argentine coach Gabriel Milito’s Chivas de Guadalajara will visit Nigerian striker Christian Ebere’s Cruz Azul on Wednesday in the first leg of the semifinals of the Clausura 2026 Mexican soccer tournament.
Guadalajara defeated Tigres UANL 2-0 last Sunday, tying the quarter-final series and advancing to the top four, a feat because they did so without five of their first team players, who were called up to the Mexican National Team.
They are forced to attack
Now Milito and his players will have to revalidate their soccer.
And, with the same absentees, they went out to beat a Cruz Azul team that gained oxygen after the arrival of coach Joel Huiquí.
Replacement for Argentine Nicolás Larcamón.
Ebere scored half of the team’s goals in the 4-2 win over Atlas in the quarterfinals.
This Wednesday he will lead the Azules’ attack, who will be out to impose conditions at the Azteca stadium at home.
Huiquí knows that if the series ends in a tie, he will be eliminated because Chivas was higher in the standings at the end of the regular season.
This will force his team to propose the match and look for goals to take an advantage in the second leg, next Saturday at the Jalisco stadium in Guadalajara.
In the first phase of the tournament, Chivas scored 33 goals, two more than Cruz Azul, but had striker Armando González in their lineup.
Sub-leading scorer, now focused on the Mexican National Team that will play in the World Cup.
Chivas bets on collective play against Cruz Azul determined to strike first
Without Gonzalez, Milito will be looking for his offense not to rely on one player, and will be looking for a team play in which the attack starts from the defenders.
It will be a difficult series to predict in which Chivas will assume that, if they could beat the powerful Tigres UANL, they have everything to beat Cruz Azul.
The light blue team will repeat that their rival is diminished and will go out to hurt them.
In the first phase of the tournament, Chivas scored 33 goals
QuéOnnda.com
The winner of the series will play for the title against the best of Venezuelan Salomón Rondón’s Pachuca.
That eliminated the champion Toluca in the quarterfinals.
And the Pumas UNAM of Paraguay’s Robert Morales, winners over the Águilas del América.
With information from EFE
Cruz Azul vs Chivas: Date, time and where to watch LIVE
Game: Cruz Azul vs Chivas
Instance: Semifinal Ida – Clausura 2026
Stadium: Banorte, Mexico City
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Time in Mexico (CDMX): 20:00 hours
Time ET (United States): 10:00 p.m. ET
LIVE Broadcast
Free TV: Channel 5 and Azteca 7
Pay TV: TUDN
Streaming: VIX Premium
For more information, visit QuéOnnda.com.