Chapala’s amateur soccer team has battled its way to the quarter final of the Copa Jalisco after winning two bruising round-of-16 games against Zapotlán el Grande by an aggregate score of 4-2.
Chapala’s fans might have expected a fairly easy second-leg game last Sunday, after their team had earned a 2-0 victory in a tense and hotly disputed first game in Zapotlán on Sunday, August 4.
But Zapotlán’s players and fans arrived in Chapala for the return game determined to put up a fight – literally.
Chapala started exactly where they had left off the previous Sunday, scoring two goals within the first 20 minutes.
But Zapotlán struck back with two quick goals, leveling the score before the half-time whistle blew.
The quality of the game deteriorated in the second half as the fouls mounted up and emotions in the stands began to boil over.
About eight minutes before the clock ran out, a Chapala player was carried off the field after he was downed by a kick to the testicles. As play resumed, Zapotlán forward Eduardo Ramírez Vázquez lost it, knocking Chapala’s relief player Juventino Mora to the ground with an elbow blow in the face. Before Mora could get back on his feet, Ramírez ran by and stomped on his head. As the referee pulled out a red card to expel Ramírez from the game, a brawl broke out among all the players.
Shouting and shoving immediately brewed up in the stands. Local police rushed onto the field to break up the fight and stood their ground to contain the angry crowd.
As Ramírez was hauled off to jail, the injured Mora was taken by ambulance to the municipal clinic where doctors stitched up a gash in his head. The game was called off with the 2-2 score standing, and a global 4-2 finish that pushed Chapala into the next round.
Bruised but undaunted, Chapala goes on to face Cihuatlán in two quarter final matches – at home and on the road – on August 18 and 25.