Huge crowd on tap for Chivas-León exhibition Saturday in Fresno

Chukchansi Park is set for another sellout crowd for an exhibition between Mexican soccer clubs Chivas de Guadalajara and León FC.

It’s the 10th Liga MX exhibition in downtown Fresno in four years promoted by Latin Entertainment Inc. and the first to be played as a Saturday prime-time event, according to promoter Fred Godinez. That’s a big reason why ticket sales are doing so well.

Fewer than 2,500 tickets remained as of Tuesday morning, Godinez said, with nearly 45 percent of all ticket buyers hailing from outside of Fresno County. Previous friendlies saw about a quarter of the crowd come from out of town, he said.

Gates open at 4 p.m. with kickoff at 6. Tickets are available at www.ticketsvip.net or at the stadium box office and Don Roberto Jewelers locations.

The clubs played to a 1-1 draw Sunday at Estadio León that saw 35 total fouls called for seven yellow cards, three reds and two penalties. Chivas (8-5-3) moved into fourth in the Liga MX Apertura season standings and secured a spot in the postseason while León (6-5-5) will play for a playoff berth in its regular-season finale Nov. 18, when Liga MX resumes after the CONCACAF’s World Cup Qualifying matches.

Chivas on Saturday will be without defender Oswaldo Alanís and foward Orbelín Pineda, both of whom are with the Mexican National Team, while León will be missing starting goalkeeper William Yarbrough, who was called to the USA squad for the countries’ showdown in Columbus, Ohio, at 5 p.m. Friday.

Select Chivas players and coaches will be at three meet-and-greet events in the Fresno area:

▪ 6-7 p.m. Friday at River Park Shopping Center’s Xfinity Store (35 E Via la Plata, Fresno).

▪ 9:30 p.m. Friday at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino (711 Lucky Lane, Coarsegold).

▪ 11 a.m. Saturday at Sierra Vista Mall’s Don Roberto Jewelers (1050 Shaw Blvd., Clovis).

Williams returns to USWNT – Fresno native Lynn Williams will make her first return to the United States women’s national team this week, joining the 24-player roster for their final two matches of 2016.

The Americans play Romania at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Avaya Stadium in San Jose and at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at StubHub Center in Carson. It will be the 23-year-old’s first time playing in her home state since her senior season at Pepperdine. Last month, Williams was named the National Women’s Soccer League Golden Boot award winner and Most Valuable Player while helping the Western New York Flash win the NWSL title.

Chedraui named All-Pac West – Fresno Pacific forward Jorge Chedraui was selected to the PacWest’s all-conference first team and fellow Sunbirds Joao Ravasio and Ben Cowdrill, both senior midfielders, were named to the third team.

It is the third first-team honor in a row for Chedraui, who was a third-teamer as a freshman. The senior finished with 11 goals and 10 assists while helping the Sunbirds (8-7-3 overall, 7-4-2 PacWest) to a fifth-place finish in the conference.

On the women’s side, Sunbirds seniors Alyssa Nakaguchi and Amber Rodriguez were named to the PacWest second team. The Sunbirds went 9-7-1 overall and 7-5-1 in league for sixth place.

Rams sweep CVC – The Fresno City College men’s and women’s teams secured Central Valley Conference titles over the weekend and await their postseason seedings following Friday’s regular-season finales.

The men (15-1-4, 5-1-1) beat College of Sequoias 2-1 Friday on Noe Prieto’s winner in the 80th minute for the title – the 13th for coach Eric Solberg.

The women (15-3-2, 8-0-1) clinched the title with a 10-0 rout of visiting COS.

The men on Friday will host West Hill-Lemoore at 1 p.m., with the women hosting Cerro Coso at 3.

This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Huge crowd on tap for Chivas-León exhibition Saturday in Fresno."