GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- The panorama for Chivas going into Sunday's Copa Libertadores playoff match against Veracruz in Los Angeles and ahead of the 2016 Apertura 2016 be positive. Excitement should be building.
The Guadalajara side has strengthened significantly this off-season with the signings of holding midfielder Jose Juan "Gallito" Vazquez from Leon, winger Nestor Calderon from Santos Laguna, as well as young striker Marco Bueno from Pachuca.
Last season's 2016 Clausura quarter-finalists should be confident of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores and once again competing in the Liga MX playoffs, with their easy-on-the-eye attacking style bringing fans in numbers to the Estadio Chivas. The team may well do so, but right now off-field distractions continue to be a issue for a club that hasn't exactly been a model of stability in recent years.
The break from traditional television networks and the setting up of Chivas TV promises to be revolutionary, but it could also fall flat on its face. The move to take control of the broadcasting of the team's home games and only show them on a subscription-based platform via the internet is risky, and the initial response was critical of Chivas TV's high costs.
Yet if Chivas sell 100,000 year-long subscriptions for Chivas TV at an average of $120 USD, it will be a tidy minimum income of $12 million in the first year, even without taking into consideration the other sign-up options. How realistic that is in a country suffering from often-crippling inequality remains to be seen.
But there is likely to be "collateral damage," as Chivas CEO Jose Luis Higuera has stated, from the fact that a significant amount of Mexicans simply won't be able to afford or have the required internet to watch Chivas live. There could then be a potential knock-on effect from sponsors, who may not be as willing to back a team not being shown live on free and widely-accessible TV stations.
There has also been signs of friction in the dressing room. Former Chivas striker Michel Vazquez laid into current captain Omar Bravo about the distribution of player bonuses and why certain players received more than others. Bravo denied that there was a problem, but it didn't stop the issue being covered widely in the press in Guadalajara.
"We are more united than ever," countered center-back Jair Pereira in a news conference in Guadalajara on Tuesday. "The focus is on the sporting side and work, not on what is said."
Following swiftly of the news that sporting director Jaime Ordiales had left the club on June 14 came the signing of young Mexican-American Alejandro Zendejas from FC Dallas. Zendejas may have been born in Mexico, but the fact that he has represented the United States at youth level really doesn't go down well at a club in which only Mexicans are allowed to play and players can only represent El Tri.
To top it all off, club owner Jorge Vergara and Grupo Omnilife-Chivas CEO Jose Luis Higuera were in Italy last week looking into the purchase of Serie B side Catania. Just a couple of months since Chivas escaped relegation and a couple of years since the failed Chivas USA experiment came to a sharp halt, the option of Vergara owning another team in another continent isn't appealing to local Chivas fans, who are desperate for the Rojiblancos to succeed and win a title.
Pereira answered an avalanche of questions about the distractions at the club and stressed that the players are focused solely on doing their job.
"You hear about (other things), but the principal focus is on the pitch," said Pereira. "Sunday's game is very important for us. The coach (Matias Almeyda) reminds us every day that the only thing we have to worry about is on the pitch."
On the field, preseason has been mixed, with one win, a loss and a draw, although Chivas' Olympic hopefuls haven't taken part so far and will be available on Sunday to face the Tiburones Rojos.
A victory against Veracruz and a ticket to the 2017 Copa Libertadores would be a perfect boost for Argentine coach Almeyda. Both Vergara and Almeyda have stressed -- unlike some other Mexican clubs -- the importance of the continental competition to the club's vision. Chivas are desperate to become the first Mexican team to win the Libertadores and booking a place in the 2017 edition would shift the conversation away from off-field uncertainty and toward on-field questions about just what this team can achieve this upcoming Apertura.