Liga MX: Club America defeats Atlas

Club America learns to fly again vs Atlas in Week 2 of the Liga MX Apertura

After disappointing showing vs Necaxa, America needed to bounce back against Atlas. With high expectations, a high-profile manager and traditionally being one of the top teams in Liga MX, America was starting the season off on the wrong foot. Favored to defeat Necaxa in the opening game of the season, America looked unprepared and the defense looked more sloppy than ever and they fell short. Now facing an Atlas team coming off a good performance in their draw against Queretaro was starting to look like a tough task for America to handle.

Mateus Uribe returned from his World Cup break and was inserted into Saturday’s starting eleven. The Columbian provided the spark that America needed to take down the rival Atlas and allowed Piojo Herrera to make adjustments to his starting eleven. The result was a 3-0 victory.

The match was controlled by the America side with almost no real challenge facing goalkeeper Marchesin. The opposing Atlas looked out-gassed, outperformed and out of their depth against Las Aguilas.

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Guido Rodriguez opened up the scoring for America in the first half off a corner kick in the 38th minute. It was a beautiful pass from Renato Ibarra that Rodriguez was able to control with his chest and launch into the corner of the net. Following the Rodriguez goal, it was Ibarra again that broke down the Atlas defense through the right side nine minutes later. As he was approached the area, his shot ended up being a direct pass to Uribe, who happened to be at the right place at the right time for the tap-in giving America a 2-0 lead right before halftime.

In the second half, Guido Rodriguez’s second goal was, again, off of a corner kick. He jumped to beat the defenders to the ball and headed the ball right past the goalkeeper to give America the 3-0 lead.

This America team looked and showed much more than what they did in last week’s disappointing loss. The return of Uribe was a big key factor for America. Uribe was all over the field. He was winning balls and creating opportunities for his teammates, which was lacking in last week’s game.

Now America must prepare to face a wounded rival that is still looking for their first points this season when they go on to visit Pachuca for a Saturday evening match. Pachuca are coming off tough 1-0 losses to Monterrey and Queretaro, so America can expect to face a tough rival and a rival that is desperately looking to gain points in any way they can. America will have to be on their game to avoid another disappointing loss. This match against Atlas may provide a blueprint for success.