Liga MX: Club America hosts Club Tijuana

Club America hopes the international break won’t break any momentum they gained from their victory over Tigres.

An impressive, exciting victory against Tigres in Jornada 12 kept Club America just two points behind Cruz Azul for the top spot in the Liga MX table. Tijuana comes to the Estadio Azteca coming off of a draw and a loss that followed a three-game winning streak. With the FIFA break, Xolos will have worked on finding whatever they had going for them during that streak, while America could theoretically see some rust, having had 7 players away on international duty.

This one gets under way around 7pm CDT in Mexico City on Saturday.

Last Match

Club America: W @ Tigres 3-2

This was an extremely entertaining match and, honestly, one of the first that I felt lived up to the hype in this Apertura. Both teams came out with a 4-4-2 formation, with America’s Edson Alvarez starting, somewhat surprisingly, on the bench after serving his red card suspension from the previous match. The two Aguilas centerbacks were the story early on. Bruno Valdez started the scoring off with a header in just the 9th minute of the match. Tigres’ right-back Luis Rodriguez would answer in minute 33 with a goal of his own and the teams would head in to the locker room tied 1-1 at halftime. Las Aguilas struggled a little defensively in the first half so Alvarez was brought on for Andres Ibarrguen at half to give America a bit more defensive stability. In the 47th minute, Ema Aguliera headed in a beautiful goal, putting America in the lead. Guido Rodriguez would cap off a gorgeous stretch of play on both ends of the field with a goal in the 57th minute to make the score 3-1. Tigres found an answer in the form of an Andre-Pierre Gignac strike in the 58th minute, but some excellent saves from Agustin Marchesin would ensure America held on for a thrilling victory.

Xolos: D v Queretaro 1-1

After losing a waterlogged match in Monterrey to Los Rayados, Tijuana was hoping Queretaro at Estadio Caliente would provide them a return to their winning ways. Things started off pretty well for Xolos when Fabian Castillo put a pass from Miller Bolanos behind Queretaro goalkeeper Tiago Volpi in the 13th minute of the match. Los Gallos Blancos held most of the momentum from that point, however. Ultimately, Tijuana conceded a penalty and Camilo Sanvezzo would punch it in from the dot to knot the match at one goal a piece in the 62nd minute, where it would stay for the remainder of the match.

Predicted Lineups

Club America: 4-4-2

Marchesin
Aguilar – Valdez – Alvarez – Sanchez
Dominguez- Rodriguez – Uribe – Ibarrguen
Peralta – Martinez

Word was that Renato Ibarra may not be ready to go for this one, so, knowing Piojo Herrera, I’d expect Cecilio Dominguez to fill his spot in the starting XI. America is still waiting for their big signing of Roger Martinez to really pay off for them, so he’ll get the nod ahead of Henry Martin, alongside Oribe Peralta, despite Martin’s solid international break with El Tri. I think Edson Alvarez returns to the starting lineup this week after coming on right after halftime against Tigres. He has provided some of the most stable defense of the centerbacks on the roster, so I anticipate he won’t lose his starting role.

Xolos: 4-4-2

Lajud
Martinez – Velazquez – Canto – Fuentes
Rivero- Rodriguez – Gonzalez – Castillo
Bolanos – Torres

An offensive juggernaut, Xolos are not. Miller Bolanos, Cubo Torres, and Fabian Castillo have all shown flashes of potential but yet only Veracruz and Atlas have scored less goals than Tijuana on the season. No doubt Xolos will be playing to secure a draw on the road at the Azteca, especially if the pitch looks as bad as it has all Apertura-long. They’ll be thrilled if they can someone win 1-0, but Mexican international Manuel Lajud will need to play out of his mind for that to happen. Xolos may just bunker in and try to ride out the Crème and Blue storm.

Key Players

Club America: Roger Martinez. It’s time. Martinez came to America from Villareal in the summer with the potential to be America’s solution at the striker position. It hasn’t materialized, yet. Roger is still adapting to Mexican soccer and has been almost non-existent in some matches this year. I think this is the match he starts to turn the corner. He’s looked better in his last two matches with the club, so why not continue that trajectory?

Xolos: Fabian Castillo. The Columbian midfielder has started to come on in the last few matches, and though he has just one goal to his name in this Apertura, he will need to be the creative force for Xolos if they are to have any chance in this match.

Prediction

Xolos will start defensively stout and hold America off the scoreboard in the first half, but America will start to get things going shortly after halftime. As I stated in my key players section, I think this is the game Roger Martinez breaks out. I predict he’ll score twice for Las Aguilas in the 2nd half and Xolos won’t be able to put together enough of an attack to climb back into the match. We could potentially see America atop the Liga MX table after this week, depending on the Cruz Azul result.

America 2 – Xolos 0

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