CD Guadalajara final preseason match

The IU men’s soccer team will play Chivas de Guadalajara at 7 p.m. Saturday in their first nationally televised game of the preseason.

Chivas and the Hoosiers will meet in Fort Wayne at Hefner Soccer Complex for the ShidigZ National Soccer Festival. The game will air live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Chivas is currently ranked No. 15 in their professional league, Liga MX.

This will be the team’s last opportunity to tune their preseason transitions before beginning regular season play in the Saint Louis Tournament against Saint Louis on Aug. 24.

Implementing a new back squad is one of the key transitions the Hoosiers have had to make this preseason, IU Coach Todd Yeagley said.

Following the first preseason match against Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday, Yeagley broke down how the new backs did in their first game.

“We like to attack, we play four in the back, but it’s really three with the way we attack the defense,” Yeagley said. “We typically convert our wide midfielders in the back.”

IU outshot UIC by 10, but Yeagley said he feels the Chivas players will be more forward in their efforts against the Hoosiers.

This opportunity to face offensive pressure not present during the UIC game will be a new experience for sophomore midfielders Kerel Bradford and Patrick Doody.

“I think it will be a great learning experience going against a team that is older and maybe faster than you,” Bradford said. “I think I’ll take away some good experience just being in the back for that game in a new environment with different players and different teams.”

Yeagley said Chivas, the only professional team IU will face this season, will likely instill a different style than the Hoosier players are used to competing against.

Doody said he is looking to keep Chivas on the defensive throughout the game.

“It’s going to be a different level game,” Doody said. “They are going to want to take it to us, so we just need to match what they bring and I’m excited for it. I think they’ll open things up a bit more and make it a more even match.”

Even with the intensity of the Chivas attackers, Yeagley said he is confident for this weekend’s final exhibition match-up.

“We talked last spring about some what-ifs with certain people in different positions,” Yeagley said. “Kerel has only four games of experience at center back and there were times that I thought he was a junior. But also, Doody is the prototypical back that we’d look for in the way we attack.”