América Ends the Streak

The second fixture of the season was much more impressive from Las Águilas. With an almost full strength squad at their disposal, they were able to end their five game winless run and Pachuca’s streak of twenty nine undefeated home games.
América visited Los Tuzos at the Estadio Hidalgo in what was a hard fought game. Both sides were coming off 1–0 defeats, and they were seeking better results this time around.
Miguel Herrera switched up the team this week and presented a new 4–4–2 formation. A total of five changes were made by the manager as he looked to improve his team’s performance from last week, and it ended up working in his favor. Agustín Marchesin was in between the sticks. Paul Aguilar, Bruno Valdez, Pablo Aguilar, and Miguel Samudio made up the back line. Darwin Quintero, Edson Álvarez, Guido Rodríguez, and Cecilio Domínguez played as the midfielders. Oribe Peralta and Silvio Romero were the strikers up top.
América silenced their critics very early on in the game. Paul Aguilar played a one-two with Quintero on the right flank and then sent a cross into the box to find Domínguez with a thunderous header that found the back of the net in barely the 2nd minute of the game. This is what most of the first half looked like as Domínguez and Quintero stole the show by constantly creating danger from the wings.
When Pachuca seemed to be taking control of the game, America stunned them with a scrappy goal in the 53rd minute. Quintero took on two players with a burst of speed, and pulled off a difficult shot that could not be properly cleared away by the Pachuca defenders on the line. Just as they thought that the play was over, Romero saved the ball and sent a pass to a wide open Domínguez who had no trouble pushing in the ball for his second goal of the match.
The rest of the second half saw a drastic change in ball possession with Los Tuzos desperate to find a goal that would put them back in the game. As more and more time went by, a frustrated Pachuca side started to make the game more physical and a bunch of yellow cards, for both teams, started flying out of Cesar Arturo Ramos’ pocket throughout the last half hour.
Rodríguez was sent off in his debut for Las Águilas after a second yellow card in the 79th minute. This red card gave Pachuca hope that they could orchestrate a comeback in the dying minutes of the match. Even though they dominated and generated many scoring opportunities, they were not able to beat Marchesin in goal.
Renato Ibarra is set to make his return next week and everything indicates that Colombian midfielder Mateus Uribe is close to being presented as a new signing from Atlético Nacional.
If this is what a full strength America squad is capable of, then their fans have a lot of good things to look forward to this season.
All eyes are going to be on them, however, as they receive Pumas at the Estadio Azteca in the Clásico Capitalino. The fans will expect nothing else then a victory against their heated rivals.
