Sudamericana: Guadalajara fires Torre as manager

Mexico City:

Guadalajara fired manager Jose Manuel de la Torre on Friday with the club mired in fourth place in its Mexican league group and two days after it lost to US club DC United in the Copa Sudamericana.

Efrain Flores, who worked for the Chivas as a coordinator for the development teams, will replace de la Torre.

Team vice president Nestor de la Torre and General Director Juan Frangie said de la Torre was dismissed because of differences of opinion, the team's poor performance recently and a drop in attendance.

"Chivas are 101 years old," Frangie said. "We have a very solid structure in place, and this will continue. We are sad to see the coach go, but this will not stop the Chivas. We'll be champions."

Guadalajara was beaten 2-1 by DC United in Washington in the first leg of their second-round match in the Copa Sudamericana, but has not been playing well in the Mexican Apertura championship.

Although it has won two of its last four in the Mexican league, it has only three victories in nine games, and with 12 points, is 11 points behind league-leading Santos.

Although it has allowed a league-low six goals, it has scored only seven, tied with Atlas for fewest in the league.

"I supported the move. It's clear that we lost leadership within the team. We became a defensive squad, and we wanted to attack. We played not to lose, when we wanted to play for the win," club owner Jorge Vergara told Mural Newspaper in Guadalajara.

De la Torre led the Chivas to the Apertura championship in December, beating Toluca in the finals to a Mexican record 11th league championship.

Chivas is the country's most popular team, and this year's poor play has kept fans away.