The most important part of the campaign is about to begin for Club América, after 17 long matches, the Azulcrema team will once again have the opportunity to lift the trophy that will accredit them as champions of the Apertura 2023 Tournament. Below, we present the Club América Guide prior to the quarterfinals, a work with VAVEL's quality seal.
How did Club América finish the regular phase of the Apertura 2023?
André Jardine 's pupils finished the 17 dates as the leaders of Liga MX, winning 12 games, tying 4 games and only losing 1 game for a total of 40 points. This was also the tournament in which André Jardine was able to write his name in the team's history books, as he became the coach who has scored the most points with the institution since the introduction of the Short Tournaments.
Likewise, América stole the spotlight in Mexican soccer by being named the best offensive team with a total of 37 goals scored, that is, scoring an average of 2 goals per game. The defense also shined for the eagles, as they only allowed a total of 14 goals against.
Players who could be key for the Quarterfinals
Alejandro Zendejas: The attacking midfielder and national star midfielder has stood out with the eagles for his consistent performance on and off the field. Simply put, the numbers speak for themselves after having played 15 matches out of a possible 17, played 853 minutes and scored 5 goals.
Diego Valdés: América's "10" is one of the "backbone" players in André Jardine's scheme; since his arrival at América, the Chilean has stood out for appearing in the most important moments of the match and being accurate when shooting at goal. Valdés made a total of 10 appearances in the Apertura 2023 and scored 6 goals in his personal account, that is, in more than half of his appearances he scored a goal.
Julián Quiñones: The striker of the moment, Julián Quiñones arrived at América in matchday 3, making his debut against Puebla and scoring his first goal with the eagles. As the matchdays went by, Quiñones settled with his new team to such an extent that he scored 6 goals.
Luis Ángel Malagón: The Mexican goalkeeper won over América's fans since the Clausura 2023, from his first start against Tigres, Luis Ángel proved to be the security under the goal that the eagles needed. As far as the Apertura 2023 is concerned, Malagón had 14 starts, 1215 minutes played and only 2 yellow cards.
Possible lineups
Since André Jardine arrived to lead the Eagles, the Brazilian coach has been characterized by having two alternative lineups to face the matches. It should be noted that these lineup changes were due to the different contexts that surrounded the team depending on the matchday to be played.
Option 1: 4-4-2. This formation allowed the association of Henry Martín and Julián Quiñones in attack, as well as a greater participation of the midfielders in the field, as Álvaro Fidalgo did, having opportunities to generate danger in the opponent's area.
L. Malagón; K. Álvarez, I. Lichnovsky, S. Cáceres, L. Fuentes; A. Zendejas, J. Dos Santos, R. Sánchez, J. Rodríguez; H. Martín, J. Quiñones.
Option 2: 4-2-3-1. This formation caused América to play with one forward but gave them more opportunity to look to generate damage with a pivot who tried to break the defensive lines. Also, the wingers had more freedom on the pitch and could play as midfielders.
L. Malagón; S. Reyes, S. Cáceres, I. Lichnovsky, M. Layún; Á. Fidalgo, J. Dos Santos; J. Rodríguez, J. Quiñones, A. Zendejas; H. Martín.
Work and further fine-tuning
Due to the break for FIFA and the week of Play-In games, América prepared two friendly matches in order to keep up the pace and continue to be at their best when the Quarterfinals of the Apertura 2023 arrive.
The first game was against the Mexican U-23 National Team, a match that took place in Coapa and ended in a 1-1 draw with goals from Jonathan Rodríguez and Sebastián Yánez. The second game will take place on Saturday, November 25 at the Coapa facilities when they face the Petroleros de Salamanca of the TDP League.
Possible opponent for the Quarterfinals
América's opponent will be defined until Sunday, November 26, when the winner of Series C of the Play-In will be defined, so the eagles will be the last club to know their sporting enemy for the first eliminatory phase.