After a year at the helm of Santiago Solari, America has lived two Liguillas “for the forgetfulness” and lost the final of Concacaf
With coach Santiago Solari on the bench, after two tournaments, America closed 2021 as the team with the most points collected during that period (73), but on both occasions it was eliminated from the Liguilla in the quarterfinals., without significance for the Azulcrema ambition that every semester aspires to the top, in addition to the defeat in the final of the Concacaf Champions League against Rayados, which took away the opportunity to play the next Club World Cup.
With previous step by Real Madrid, a club that gave him the opportunity to make his debut as a coach in the lower ranks and even made it to the first team, -although he was dismissed from his post in just five months-, Santiago Solari arrived at América on December 29, 2020 and debuted on the bench against a 2 to 1 victory against Atlético de San Luis, on Day 1 of Guard1anes 2021.
After 17 dates and a career side by side with Blue Cross For occupying the top of the tournament, the Eagles finished the semester in second place with 38 points and entered directly into Liguilla, however, they were eliminated in the first round by Pachuca, eighth step of the competition, which entered the ‘big party’ via playoffs after eliminating Chivas and added 15 units less.
In that series, Santiago Solari’s first experience in direct elimination from Liga MX, América stumbled 3 to 1 in the first round, held at the Hidalgo Stadium, and won at home 4 to 2, however, the away goals left them out of the competition.
In this contest, America was the best team of the tournament and took over the top pocket in the Apertura 2021 with a balance of ten games won, five draws and only two defeats., which translated into 35 points and a gap of six compared to the Atlas, his closest pursuer.
Despite the above, which also meant the automatic pass to the quarterfinals, the eleventh site, Pumas, which entered Liguilla at the expense of Toluca, caused a new setback to Santiago Solari’s project.
With a lesson learned in the Liguilla from the previous competition and without the away goal rule in force, America was locked in during the 90 minutes that were played in Ciudad Universitaria and came out without goals for or against, waiting for the Azteca Stadium to play its role in favor of the cause, however, Pumas pulled out its claws and, after a penalty scored by Emanuel Aguilera, traced the score, thanks to goals from Alan Mozo, Washington Corozo and Higor Meritao.
For its part, In the Concacaf Champions League, America drew two goals in the round of 16 series against Olimpia, but the visitor goal gave him the pass (1-2, 1-0). Later they dispatched Portland Timbers (1-1, 1-3) and Philadelphia Union (2-0, 0-2), but fell to Monterrey in a single match for the title.
On the pitch of the BBVA Stadium, Rayados imposed conditions as a local, maintained the advantage that Rogelio Funes Mori granted at 9 ‘and sealed his passport to the United Arab Emirates to play the Club World Cup together with Chelsea, Palmeiras, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahly, Auckland City, and Al-Jazira.
Regarding the recent failures of America, The board of directors said in a statement that “it will take the next three weeks to evaluate the sports project in the short and medium term.”
“The performance and results of Club América are not as expected by the board, much less the fans deserve them.”
“We have only reached the quarterfinals in the last two Liga MX tournaments and we did not win the Concacaf Champions League. The last two Liguillas have been forgotten“, published the azulcrema dome through Twitter.
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