Are Chivas and Club America that different beyond Vergara?

In the midst of the endless scandals, resentful remarks, lies and sackings which permanently surround Chivas more or less since Jorge Vergara got married and divorced, Club America could be pictured as totally different simply by opposition. Two Liga MX titles, one Concacaf Champions League, no relegation troubles and the likes of Diego Reyes, Miguel Layún and Raúl Jiménez departing for good to Europe after completing successful cycles in Coapa. América, the brightest of sunrays; Guadalajara, the darkest of shadows.

The board headed by Ricardo Peláez (who as a striker played for both classic rivals in the nineties), however, has never been exempt of Vergara-esque controversy.  While Miguel Herrera was given up to two short tournaments of tolerance in order to build his summer of 2013 side of champions, the succeeding two America managers - Antonio Mohamed and Gustavo Matosas- were given scarce months to deliver or go away.

Just in the fashion of Florentino Pérez's Real Madrid, Peláez began talks with Matosas a year ago to replace Mohamed while El Turco was on the path for glory. Right after America finished that title's celebrations, Matosas was announced. Managing a team reinforced specifically at request of his predecessor, the Uruguayan struggled in the domestic competition but anyway achieved the berth to the Club World Cup in which the Mexican champions will face Barcelona next December. Matosas had made his own number of requests to Peláez after being painfully eliminated by Pachuca... and the America chairman politely refused them, showing Matosas the exit door.

Then, what's precisely that which differentiates the recent trajectories of Chivas and Club America? Both clubs are no models of public relations, calm, diplomacy and crisis management when things don't come their way, yet both have fared so radically different that a simple look at the relegation table tells the whole story. One could well argue that Chivas' sole reliance on Mexican talent makes them victims of a global trend of which America benefits by playing with seven or eight footballers not born in Mexico ("the team of the Americas", yelled Carlos Reinoso). That might be a legitimate claim, but nonetheless that's one claim played systematically by Jorge Vergara at trying to excuse his own poor work ethics.

Poor work ethics is of course a quintessential lubricant within the system in the Mexican league. No club is exempt, not even America. But perhaps Vergara has raised the standards of poor work ethics to new levels not known in other Liga MX clubs. Somehow, it's telling enough that Major League Soccer had to acquire the Chivas USA franchise after bad results, a shrinking fanbase, and discrimination-related scandals.  

When Vergara took over in 2002, his phrases were heard as flamboyant, audacious, exuberant and politically incorrect -which many believed a good thing to rejuvenate Mexico's top flight-. Now instead, many question Vergara's ability to handle such an important club and there are some who even question his wholesale ability to run the business which allowed him to purchase Chivas in the very first place. Are Chivas and Club America that different beyond Vergara? Not much, but Vergara is certainly an edge enough as to battle for relegation.