The relegation race is heating up in the Liga MX with only two weeks left of the regular season. Some of the teams trying to evade relegation have been the sources of controversy all year long.
Veracruz has had its problems with violence in the stands and the antics of the owner, Fidel Kuri. While Chiapas was unable to pay its players at the start of the Clausura 2017 tournament. Earlier in the year, Veracruz also decided to let go of some players by notifying them through WhatsApp a messaging app.
Chiapas has also let go of some players recently, including Mexican striker, Enrique Esqueda. The latest to be let go of the struggling franchise was Brazilian winger, Mateus Goncalves. The 22-year-old was notified through WhatsApp by Diego Velasquez a member of Chiapas’ front office that he would no longer form part of the team. Not only did the organization decide to notify Goncalves in an unprofessional manner. But Goncalves also mentioned to ESPN that head coach, Sergio Bueno used unprofessional language and expletives to express that he was no longer on the team. The reason that the Brazilian was released was for not attending an autograph signing event. Goncalves was injured which justifies why he did not go but Sergio Bueno and the Chiapas front office did not see it this way.
The situation in Chiapas must be tense, with the heavy relegation battle, Matteus Goncalves did give his opinion on the current state of the franchise and on Sergio Bueno to ESPN. Goncalves said, “Everything is very odd here, Esqueda started against Pumas and two days later, they fired him, it’s odd and complicated. The relationship with him (Bueno) is bad because he has had problems with nine or 10 players, the team looks unmotivated, he fights with everyone and insults them, his relationship with the players is very bad”.
With organizations like Veracruz and Monarcas Morelia having chemistry and playing well recently, Chiapas seems like the team that will abandon the top circuit of Mexican soccer. The ‘jaguares’ have not won in seven consecutive weeks and the problems are far more than what is seen on the playing field.
