Giovanni Simeone, Fiorentina Beat Chivas in 2019 ICC Opener

Fiorentina kicked off the International Champions Cup with a 2-1 win over Chivas.

Giovanni Simeone and Riccardo Sottil scored for the Italian club to help secure the victory Tuesday at SeatGeek Stadium in Illinois. Javier Lopez was responsible for Guadalajara's only goal in the loss.

The match was the first of the United States tournament, which features 12 of the top clubs in Europe playing three matches each. Fiorentina was able to get the first win on the board despite holding only 47 percent possession in this one, via the tournament's official site.

The match was a relatively sloppy one, which shouldn't be a surprise considering where we are in the season.

The defenses were out of position for much of the night, leaving several early chances and a combined eight shots on goal in the first half.

Of course, the offense wasn't any better with players missing quality opportunities.

None of the shots were worse than the penalty opportunity for Chivas, which Alan Pulido hit right into the goalkeeper:

Even the first goal of the match needed some luck when Lopez was able to score off a deflection from the defender:

However, there was still plenty of talent on the pitch, and the players were able to make quality plays to impress the fans in attendance.

Fiorentina was able to get on the scoresheet in the 27th minute when Simeone scored on a header, assisted by Aleksa Terzic. This was an encouraging effort for the forward going into the 2019-20 season:

In the second half, Sottil gave the Serie A club the lead with a long left-footed shot in the 52nd minute. He got the opportunity off the rebound, and Antonio Rodriguez was apparently unable to recover.

Chivas had only a few real chances at an equalizer from there and couldn't take advantage of any of them, leaving a 2-1 final result.

Fiorentina are coming off an up-and-down season where they narrowly avoided regulation in Serie A. They finished with eight total wins in 38 matches during the league season.

Similarly, Guadalajara failed to advance to the liguilla knockout bracket in either the Apertura or Clausura in 2018-19.

Both sides are hoping for more luck in 2019-20 but have a long way to go to keep up with the best teams in their respective leagues.

Oribe Peralta could help Chivas over the course of the year, but he made little impact in this one before being subbed out in the 61st minute.

What's Next?

Both teams will have their next match on Saturday, with Fiorentina taking on Arsenal and Chivas set to face Benfica.