Club América defeated Pachuca 2 – 0 at home after a dominant performance Saturday night. Pachuca had no answers to stop the Aguila offense who were relentless in their attacks. Now the Tuzos will spend the international window regrouping before they face off against Cruz Azul in two weeks. Meanwhile the Aguilas will continue their work during the two weeks before they face their arch rivals Chivas in the Clasico.
Before the game even kicked off at the Ciudad de los Deportes, there was controversy.
The city government had ordered that the game be played behind closed doors, without fans, as a consequence for the failure of the stadium security days prior. On Thursday América Femenil took on Santos Femenil at home and it was reported that the stadium security had blocked off a part of the road around the stadium without permission. The closure of the street came into play later on when an ambulance attempted to use the street to deal with a medical issue. As a result the city decided to punish the club for overstepping and did not allow the game to be played in front of fans. The stadium, the club and the league refuted the city officials statements saying that it was the city police who closed down the street and not the stadium security. The city attempted to place the blame on the club for their own negligence, the statement said. Regardless, the ban was put in place and the Aguilas played without their fan support.
Almost immediately América got the game going as they had multiple chances to open the scoring early. Defender Segio Barreto slipped inside the box which allowed Rodrigo ‘Bufalo’ Aguirre to take the ball away which forced goalkeeper Carlos Moreno to come out and dispossess Aguirre. A few moments later youngster Elias Montiel took off from the midfield towards the opponents box, but the Aguilas defense was there to stop him. Minutes later Alejandro Zendejas had a shot at goal after a pass from Alvaro Fidalgo but the ball went just above the crossbar. A minute later the home side made their way back into the box where the ball was ping-ponged around for a bit before the Tuzos defense cleared the danger. Pachuca then had back-to-back chances at goal but they were unable to get the ball into the back of the net. It wasn’t until the 21st minute when the Aguilas opened the score.
Brian Rodriguez sent a ball into the box where Zendejas was waiting but instead of taking the shot himself he passed it towards the middle where Igor Lichnovsky was there to run up and push the ball into the back of the net. While many fans have criticized Lichnovsky’s starting role over Ramon Juárez in the backline, the Chilean showed exactly why André Jardine put so much trust into the player upon his return from injury.
Pachuca attempted to equalize immediately but they were unable to break down the Aguilas defense who stripped them of the ball any chance they got. Pachuca struggled to string more than two passes together thanks to the constant defensive pressure. Shortly after, they were awarded a free kick close to the box but they were unable to do anything with it and their frustration was evident. The Aguilas were close to a second goal in the 30th minute when Zendejas made his way into the box and got the ball past Moreno but his defender kicked the ball away before it got past the line. Tuzos had a big chance a few minutes later when Ilian Hernandez headed a cross towards the net but Luis Angel Malagon collected the ball in his hands. A few minutes later Pachuca had another big chance at goal when Oussama Idrissi took a shot from distance that Malagon had to stretch out to punch out of bounds. If not for the goalkeeper’s last-second reaction the score would’ve been leveled. Right before the half ended Hernandez made his way into the box where he got past Malagon and shot the ball towards the net but Dagoberto Espinoza cleared the ball at the line. Hernandez made a mistake taking the shot himself when his teammate Luis Quiñones was on the left side wide open. While Pachuca didn’t end the half with a goal, it seemed as if their momentum had shifted and they were going to need that if they wanted to make a comeback in the second half.
To start the half, the Tuzos were close to leveling the game when Victor ‘Pocho’ Guzman took a shot at goal that went just wide of the net. It was unfathomable how he missed that shot as he was by himself and he could’ve adjusted himself better before he took the shot. In the 53rd minute ‘Bufalo’ Aguirre made his way up the right wing which forced Moreno to come out of his box to dispossess the player, which he did. In the 60th minute Jardine made his first changes when he brought on Allan Saint-Maximin for Brian Rodriguez. Pachuca was going to have their hands full since the Frenchman was more of a danger than Rodriguez. Around this time was when Pachuca were making their way back into the game. They had more possession of the ball and they started to chip away at the defense. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as the Aguilas doubled their score.
In the midfield the ball was kicked in the air where Saint-Maximin was there to gather the ball. Moreno then made his way towards the center attempting to block the Frenchman but the player kicked the ball past the goalkeeper where there was no one to stop the player who had an open net in front of him. Saint-Maximin kicked the ball towards the empty where it hit the far post but bounced inside of the net. That was two goals in two games for the Frenchman. This goal was all thanks to Moreno who made a bad decision and left the goal wide open when he should’ve trusted his defense to stop the attack.
Even with the scoreline Tuzos continued to fight for a goal and made a few substitutions hoping for a change. There were a few looks at goal from Pachuca but for the most part it seemed as if they had accepted their fate. The Aguilas defense would not crumble as they attempted to make their way into the box. In the 83rd minute the score was almost tripled when Fidalgo passed the ball to Saint-Maximin who was forced to pass the ball to Zendejas because he was swarmed when he received the ball. The pass was too heavy for the Mexican-American who was unable to get a shot on goal. A few minutes later the nail in the coffin was placed when Cristian Borja scored a goal. The referee was then sent to the monitor to take a second look at the goal. Upon replay it showed that Raul Zuñiga had committed a foul before the goal when he grabbed on the jersey of Eduardo causing him to fall and unable to defend. The referee felt there was enough shirt pulling from the Aguila player to call the foul and reverse the goal, which he did. In stoppage time Pachuca still attempted to score a goal but the Aguilas were able to get the ball out of danger in order to keep a clean sheet.
With this win Club América secured themselves in second place right behind Monterrey with only one point separating the two teams. Pachuca had one of their worst games of the season as they were dominated in every aspect of the game. It also didn’t help that their goalkeeper made bad decisions. Now they must regroup during this international break before league play resumes in two weeks. Meanwhile the Aguilas need to continue their dominance performance as the Clasico de Mexico is near.
