PREVIEW-Soccer-Guadalajara try again, last chance for Blanco :cap:
MEXICO CITY, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Guadalajara, humbled by a miserable performance in last year's Apertura championship, will try to restore their reputation as one of Mexico's top clubs in the Clausura tournament which starts at the weekend.
The competition also offers a last chance for the gifted but volatile America forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco to show Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe that he is worthy of a place in the World Cup squad.
Guadalajara, thanks partly to their policy of not fielding foreigners, boast Mexico's biggest support and the country's most flamboyant president in Jorge Vergara.
Yet the Chivas have failed to live up to the brash promises made by Vergara when he bought control of the club in 2002.
Critics blamed the entrepreneur, seen as an upstart by the traditional Mexican business community, for the team's failure in the Apertura championship.
Vergara controversially sacked coach Benjamin Galindo just three matches into the campaign and replaced him with Spaniard Xabier Azkargorta, who had not coached a first division club in the previous seven years.
Azkargorta won only two out of 12 matches as Guadalajara failed to reach the knockout stages of the Apertura, the first of the two championships in the 2005/6 season.
Their campaign ended in disgrace when they had two players sent off and were involved in an ugly brawl in a 3-0 defeat to eventual champions Toluca -- contradicting Vergara's talk of using sport as a positive influence on the country's youth.
WESTERHOF RETURNS
In an attempt to improve on that effort, the Chivas have signed Mexican international midfielders Gonzalo Pineda and Sergio Santana from UNAM and Pachuca respectively.
Dutchman Hans Westerhof has been promoted from the youth team divisions and will take charge of the senior side for the second time in Vergara's reign to replace the sacked Azkargorta.
Guadalajara travel to Tuxtla Gutierrez to face Chiapas in their first game on Saturday.
Toluca, who begin the defence of their crown at home to Necaxa, have made no major signings to add to the team which upstaged Guadalajara and the Mexico City trio of America, Cruz Azul and UNAM to win the club's eighth title in the Apertura.
Former Argentina midfielder Americo Gallego is still at the helm, having added to the domestic titles he has already won as a coach in his homeland with River Plate, Newell's Old Boys and Independiente.
RODALLEGA SIGNED
America, surprisingly knocked out in the Apertura quarter-finals by UANL, will be looking mainly to Blanco to improve.
Blanco, 33, is still regarded as the one Mexican player who is capable of the truly unpredictable and there is a vociferous lobby for him to be included in the World Cup squad.
Blanco will sit out the first game away to UANL on Saturday because of a pain in his right leg.
Cruz Azul are away to Morelia and UNAM entertain Santos Laguna.
Up north, Monterrey, who lost to Toluca in the Apertura final, have signed Colombia's promising 20-year-old forward Hugo Rodallega.
Rodallega was top scorer in last year's South American under-20 championship and in the Colombian Finalizacion tournament in the second half of last year when he led Deportivo Cali to the title.
"Playing in Mexico, it's much easier to make the jump to Europe," the Colombian 20-year-old said.
MEXICO CITY, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Guadalajara, humbled by a miserable performance in last year's Apertura championship, will try to restore their reputation as one of Mexico's top clubs in the Clausura tournament which starts at the weekend.
The competition also offers a last chance for the gifted but volatile America forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco to show Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe that he is worthy of a place in the World Cup squad.
Guadalajara, thanks partly to their policy of not fielding foreigners, boast Mexico's biggest support and the country's most flamboyant president in Jorge Vergara.
Yet the Chivas have failed to live up to the brash promises made by Vergara when he bought control of the club in 2002.
Critics blamed the entrepreneur, seen as an upstart by the traditional Mexican business community, for the team's failure in the Apertura championship.
Vergara controversially sacked coach Benjamin Galindo just three matches into the campaign and replaced him with Spaniard Xabier Azkargorta, who had not coached a first division club in the previous seven years.
Azkargorta won only two out of 12 matches as Guadalajara failed to reach the knockout stages of the Apertura, the first of the two championships in the 2005/6 season.
Their campaign ended in disgrace when they had two players sent off and were involved in an ugly brawl in a 3-0 defeat to eventual champions Toluca -- contradicting Vergara's talk of using sport as a positive influence on the country's youth.
WESTERHOF RETURNS
In an attempt to improve on that effort, the Chivas have signed Mexican international midfielders Gonzalo Pineda and Sergio Santana from UNAM and Pachuca respectively.
Dutchman Hans Westerhof has been promoted from the youth team divisions and will take charge of the senior side for the second time in Vergara's reign to replace the sacked Azkargorta.
Guadalajara travel to Tuxtla Gutierrez to face Chiapas in their first game on Saturday.
Toluca, who begin the defence of their crown at home to Necaxa, have made no major signings to add to the team which upstaged Guadalajara and the Mexico City trio of America, Cruz Azul and UNAM to win the club's eighth title in the Apertura.
Former Argentina midfielder Americo Gallego is still at the helm, having added to the domestic titles he has already won as a coach in his homeland with River Plate, Newell's Old Boys and Independiente.
RODALLEGA SIGNED
America, surprisingly knocked out in the Apertura quarter-finals by UANL, will be looking mainly to Blanco to improve.
Blanco, 33, is still regarded as the one Mexican player who is capable of the truly unpredictable and there is a vociferous lobby for him to be included in the World Cup squad.
Blanco will sit out the first game away to UANL on Saturday because of a pain in his right leg.
Cruz Azul are away to Morelia and UNAM entertain Santos Laguna.
Up north, Monterrey, who lost to Toluca in the Apertura final, have signed Colombia's promising 20-year-old forward Hugo Rodallega.
Rodallega was top scorer in last year's South American under-20 championship and in the Colombian Finalizacion tournament in the second half of last year when he led Deportivo Cali to the title.
"Playing in Mexico, it's much easier to make the jump to Europe," the Colombian 20-year-old said.
