The work began for the Águilas of Club América last week at Estadio Universitario in Nuevo León, defeating the UANL Tigres 2-0 at their home stadium in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League finals. Club América finished the task, taking the second match 2-1 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, combining a convincing 4-1 overall score, earning the defending Concachampions a second consecutive trip to the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, to be held December in Japan.
At the 38 minute mark, Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac opened the scoring for the Tigres, resurrecting hopes his team could overcome their two goal deficit.
However, in the second half after 67 minutes, Michael Arroyo, who started the match on the bench, buried any rival hopes scoring the equalizer with a well-placed middle-distance shot in the goal.
At 85 minutes, via a penalty shot, the Paraguayan Osvaldo Martínez stamped an América victory with a powerful shot.
From the initial approach, las Águilas came out determined to extend the lead, pushing forth Oribe Peralta, Darío Benedetto and Darwin Quintero, supported by the zone created by Rubens Sambueza and Osvaldo Martínez.
In the first minutes of the match, the home side created a risky situation for their rivals, coming up from the sides with speed, testing Tigres defense led by Juninho and Hugo Ayala.
Tigres slowly began to advance lines, without neglecting the defensive zone when faced with the speed of Americanista attackers, an effort that resulted in UANL’s only goal of the night.
Both teams return to Clausura 2016, América hoping to carry the momentum against Monterrey, Saturday, and Tigres hosts Veracruz.
THE NEWS
Translation and additional reporting by JMR