The Curse of Chepo De La Torre

I’ve been following Club Deportivo Guadalajara since I was a child and In my lifetime, they’ve lifted the championship trophy 3 times. 2 times of which I can actually remember, and each after almost a 10 year dry spell (86-87, 1997, 2006). That may seem reasonable to some, but keep in mind that the Mexican league runs on a 2 season a year system since 1996. They’ve caused more harm than good to my psyche over the years, and currently find themselves in a 3 year funk of mediocrity thanks in large part to poor decision making from our front office.

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For a team that depends highly on its farm system to produce talent, they’ve created a virtual logjam by not knowing when to let players go. This hesitation has filled the starting 11 with players who would normally be fodder in the supposedly revamped Liga de Ascenso. Players like Tepa Solis, Hector Reynoso, Omar Esparza, Xavier Baez, “Chore” Mejia, and now journeyman Omar Bravo (who was brought back for no good reason), all homegrown, all taking up roster spots, all incredibly mediocre – some downright awful.

Three weeks are left in the season, and Chivas find themselves in 14th place, on the verge of missing the playoffs for the 3rd consecutive season. That’s not the alarming part, however. Raul Arias, who was hired in September, was fired this morning. That’s Chivas’ 2nd coach this season, and 4th in the span of a year.

Chepo De La Torre – Fired in September 2007*
Efrain Flores – Fired in March of 2007
Omar Arellano Sr. – Fired after 2 weeks (!) in March of 2009
Francisco Ramirez – Fired September of 2009
Raul Arias – Fired November of 2009

*Championship in December 2006

Some argue that the constant coaching changes have affected the players, thus causing them to perform poorly, but I honestly don’t see it this way. The majority of mistakes I have seen aren’t of the tactical variety. Sloppy passing, even sloppier defending, and the one-man show that is our attack, appear to be more prevalent in recent times. While you have to adapt to a new tactical system, which may take some time, it doesn’t explain how you forget to play a simple cross, or intercept a pass.

With this firing, Rafael Lebrija makes his first move as Club President and according to his interview, it appears as though a sweep of the aforementioned fodder is on the horizon. One can only hope that the decision making improves, but whenever Jorge Vergara is involved, one cannot just assume that logic and reason will be employed.

For the sake of my sanity, I’m hoping only good decisions are made with an outlook toward the future, and not the short sighted crap we’ve been spoon-fed for the past 3 years. They’ve shown total disrespect to once great players (most now turned coaches), disrespected the history of the team with admittedly controversial uniforms for the sake of being controversial, and an even more controversial move in deciding to modify the teams shield which had remained essentially the same over the better part of 100 years. If there’s one thing Vergara has going for him, is his ability to generate bad publicity.

In 3 weeks, a front office led by Rafael Lebrija where Jorge Vergara will supposedly take a back seat to decision making, will provide them with the first opportunity to begin to rebuild. With a resume that boasts a dominant Toluca team of the 90s, I’m confident that things will finally start to take a step in the right direction. Today’s firing of Arias was a good decision, but ultimately a hiring that should’ve never taken place. We’ll see what they have in store for us. Will it be another winter transfer window full of unfounded rumors, or an actual productive transfer window that’ll breathe new life into a team that’s been plagued by apathy, and poor results? We’ll have to wait and see.