Huerta, Antuna and Calderón return to Akron as Chivas rivals after failing to click with the Flock

Some matches carry extra weight for certain players, and Sunday's game at Estadio Akron is one of those cases. Pumas visits Chivas with three names on the roster who know that field better than anyone: César Huerta, Uriel Antuna and Cristian Calderón all came through Guadalajara, none of them ever fully settled there, and all three had to leave the Flock to finally find their best version.

Let's start with the one that probably stings most for Chivas fans. Huerta came up through Chivas' youth system and made his top flight debut in 2018 against León, getting just four minutes on the field. From there it was back and forth: a loan to Zacatepec, a return for the Apertura 2019 with 428 minutes spread across nine matches, another loan to Monarcas (right as the club was transforming into Mazatlán FC), and one last chance between Clausura 2021 and Clausura 2022 that never fully took off either. In total, 39 matches, one goal and one assist in the red and white jersey. Nothing that suggested what was coming later.

Because at Pumas, "Chino" is a different player. He has 87 matches, 20 goals and 15 assists with the university club, and he's already written a special chapter against Chivas specifically: in the Quarterfinals of the Apertura 2023 he scored, forced a rival own goal and won a penalty, then celebrated wearing a shirt that read "Re-Made at Pumas." There's not much more to explain about what that day meant to him.

Antuna's case has a different flavor. He arrived at Chivas in the Clausura 2020 as one of the big-name signings of a transfer window that, in hindsight, is remembered as one of the club's least profitable. He played 64 matches through the Apertura 2021, with six goals and nine assists, numbers that weren't bad for a winger, but an off-field situation eventually pushed him off the coaching staff's radar. Chivas traded him in the deal that brought in Roberto Alvarado from Cruz Azul, and from there Antuna went to Tigres before arriving at Pumas last year.

With the university side he has racked up 30 matches, three goals and five assists. He was an important piece in last semester's final, though he also had an uncomfortable moment: the red card against Cruz Azul that hurt the team in a series Pumas ended up losing.

Calderón, the one who played the most matches against Chivas... while playing for Chivas

Cristian "Chicote" Calderón arrived at the Flock in the same transfer window as Antuna and lived through a similar story: good moments, a disciplinary issue along the way, and a departure not everyone saw coming. His high point was brutal at the time: in the Quarterfinals of the Apertura 2020 against América, he scored all three goals in the win that eliminated América from the Clásico Nacional.

Calderón stayed in Guadalajara through the Apertura 2023, including that final the team lost, and closed out his stint with 111 matches, 10 goals and eight assists: the club where he's played the most in his entire career. Even so, at the end of 2023 Chivas decided not to renew his contract and he left as a free agent for América.

For this Apertura 2026 he arrived at Pumas as an option at left back, though his start has been modest: five matches between Liga MX and the Leagues Cup, just 102 minutes, with no goals or assists yet.

Three different stories, one common thread: Guadalajara wasn't where they finished growing, but it was the starting point for something that later took shape elsewhere. On Sunday, at Akron, all three return to a stadium they know by heart, now on the other side of the rivalry.