Club América easily beats Querétaro 3-1 at home

After a loss last week in the opening round of the Apertura 2024, Club América bounced back with a convincing home win against Querétaro. Although they won their home match 3-1, it wasn’t all positive news as Alejandro Zendejas was seen with a boot on his left foot after the match. The club has yet to provide an update on his condition, but losing a valuable player like Zendejas would be a blow. Regardless of his condition, the Aguilas must turn all their attention to matchday three as they travel to Nuevo Leon to face Tigres on Wednesday.

As in the last game, the Aguilas started quickly. It was so fast that Javairô Dilrosun scored a goal within two minutes.

This goal was thanks to Alejandro Zendejas, who started the ball rolling in this game. As the Gallos tried to get out of their own part of the field, Zendejas was able to steal the ball and head straight for the goal. The quick transition left the home team unable to properly defend their goal and therefore left Dilrosun free. Zendejas sent the ball into the middle where Henry Martin selflessly passed the ball to Dilrosun and the player did not hesitate and pushed the ball past Allison’s hands to score the first goal for the home team. Querétaro then tried to equalize, but before that was possible, the visitors doubled their lead.

Erick Sanchez was a key factor in this goal. After a long pass, he was able to prevent the ball from going out of play and for a goal kick, and then he again prevented it from going out of play and for a throw-in and somehow got the ball to Zendejas. Zendejas then sent the ball into the box where Henry Martin jumped in the air and headed the ball into the net to double the lead.

A few minutes later, América came close to scoring another goal when Israel Reyes had his chance but the ball hit the post. The Gallos spent the next 15 minutes in their defensive third as they faced pressure from the visitors that would not stop. They had a chance to score in the 25th minute when they were awarded a corner kick but the visitors were quick to get the ball out of danger. Their chance finally came in stoppage time and it cut the lead by half.

Sebastian Sosa was surrounded by three América defenders and none of them were moving to stop him, so he took the opportunity to shoot the ball towards the goal. As the ball was on its way to the goal, Pablo Barrera was there to slot the ball in. He was covered by Calderón and even that couldn’t stop Barrera, who shot the ball past Luis Angel Malagon. Fortunately for the Aguilas, Malagon was able to quickly recover from the injury he sustained while playing for the Mexican national team. The quick recovery even led some to believe that the injury was not as serious as the medical report suggested.

The second half began with both teams starting the same line-up. Querétaro needed a break as they had started the half with renewed energy. However, the momentum only lasted a few minutes as América extended their lead with another goal.

Erick Sanchez orchestrated the third goal, just like the second, receiving the ball in midfield and forcing his way through the Gallo defense. Sanchez passed the ball to Dilrosun, who played the ball to the feet of Martin. Martin was quick on his feet to reposition himself and blast the shot into the net, making it 3-1 in the 58th minute. In just two games, Sanchez has already made an impact for the Aguilas. In his debut for the Aguilas last week, he was the spark the team needed, and although they didn’t score, it was clear the value he would bring to the team, and this week he was the orchestrator behind two goals.

Things weren’t looking good for Querétaro in the 60th minute. They were two goals down and the frustration was palpable as they were penalized for several fouls against the visitors. In the 64th minute, they had made three substitutions to hopefully motivate the team as they needed two more goals to at least come away with a point. The Gallos brought on Lucas Rodriguez, Jonathan Perlaza and Jaime Gomez Valencia to give the team the momentum they needed. On the other hand, the Aguilas involuntarily made their own substitutions when Zendejas went down on the field and asked to be substituted. It wasn’t immediately clear what kind of injury he had sustained, but he was able to leave the field of his own accord, which was good news. After the 70th minute, the game slowed down as the visitors realized they just had to finish the game as the Gallos were getting weaker as time went on. At times it looked like they were just waiting for the clock to run out as they had no luck breaking through the Aguilas’ defense. It was only in the final minutes of the game that the home team got going. Although it didn’t look like they would be able to equalize, they tried to score at least one more goal. Unfortunately, the goal never came and the game ended 3-1.

The first two games for Querétaro did not go well as they lost their second game of the season. América, meanwhile, did not have a great start but they turned things around this week and easily defeated their opponents at home. Unfortunately, this did not happen in front of a large crowd as they only had just under 10,000 fans at the end of the game. Usually their home games are sold out or almost full so it was strange to see the stadium so empty at the start of the game but more fans showed up at the end. Now the Aguilas are preparing for a double game week as they have a short break when they play Tigres on Wednesday and FC Juárez on Saturday.

Club America: L. Malagon; C. Calderón, R. Juárez, N. Araujo, I. Reyes; E. Sanchez, R. Sanchez, A. Zendejas, A. Fidalgo, J. Dilrosun; H.Martin;

Queretaro: G. Allison; S. Hernandez, F. Venegas, K. Escamilla, O. Manzanarez, O. Mendoza; A. Medina Camacho, F. Lertora, M. Rio, P. Barrera; S.Sosa;