Tour Aguila | Club America vs Monarcas Morelia Review

Roger Martinez Celebrating his second goal. Photo via Club America Twitter (@ClubAmerica_EN)

San Jose, CA - Club America played their fourth consecutive friendly match in preseason. Las Aguilas had the task of going up against Monarcas Morelia on Sunday July 8th at the Avaya Stadium. A match that prove to be more harmful to the squad than helpful, as the team saw yet another of their star player go down with injury. But also saw a new start rise to the occasion.

The team fielded their best XI possible for the first half. With no Jeremy Menez in the mix after his injury (which stated he would miss the Apertura season) the team saw the following players come into the starting XI for this friendly which included two new starters for Club America, Luis Reyes and Roger Martinez: Marchesin, P. Aguilar, B. Valdez, E. Aguilera, L. Reyes, J. Corona, G. Rodriguez, R. Ibarra, C. Dominguez, A. Ibarguen, R. Martinez.

Starting XI for Club America | Photo via twitter (@ClubAmerica_EN)

The game was centered around the Colombian striker making his debut for America. As the game began, the team right away looked off. The players looked like they hadn't switch to game mode and Morelia capitalized on it by scoring in the 2nd minute of the match. A start to the match Miguel Herrera was not hoping for as his side went down a goal so early in the match. But things would get worse for them as in the 5th minute of the match Cecilio Dominguez would go down to the ground after colliding with a Monarcas defender head on. The injury looked bad as the winger would have to be carried of the field and in his place came in Pedro Arce. The extent of the injury would later come to light and the team released a statement saying Dominguez injury is a fracture jaw.

It looked to be all going down hill for America in this match. The team was not performing up to par with what they had showed in previous games. The issues on the pitch extended to poor passing all the way to poor positioning from everyone. Even with all these issues the team was able to tie up the game in the 16th minute off a free kick in which Roger Martinez the new striker headed the ball into the back of the net. The team then began to grow in confidence pushing forward, but still looked poor at the back or when ever Morelia would run at them. Both teams did no further harm to each other and at the end of the 1st half the score read 1-1.

The second half was a much better half for the Azulcremas as the team began to play better and hold their positions much better. It didn't take much long after for Roger Martinez to find himself in a scoring position again after a great ball was passed to him placing him in front of goal and he slotted away his second of the match. The performance fans and team mates where expecting from the Colombian striker was being displayed in front of their very own eyes. After scoring the team seemed more adamant going forward. Roger came close to completing a dream start with a hat-trick after minutes of scoring his second goal, but unfortunately for him the goalkeeper denied him. After that the game would fall victim to the massive amount of substitutions made from both teams. The game became staggered on the pitch and this favored Morelia in the long run. Club America could not get back into rhythm which let Morelia grow into the game. Fortunately for America, Morelia could not find the back of the net and the game would end 2-1.

The narrative of this game will be the standout performance from new striker Roger Martinez as he debuts with two goals and the fact that America adds yet another star player to the injury list. But the real call for concern should be the lack of performance from some of these players. In the end its still a friendly, so many shouldn't try to read to much into the performance yet. But it does leave questions whether or not this team is capable of putting a full 90 minute performance for a game.