Coming into Tuesday’s matchup with Atlético San Luis, Club America has won 7 games in a row. After a shaky start that included losses against top European clubs in a summer friendly tournament Fernando Ortiz’s stint as Club America’s manager seemed to be coming to an end. Particularly after losses against Tijuana, and Club Leon. The team faced Juarez, though, and edged out a victory that sparked this winning streak including a 7-0 rout of Cruz Azul. How long could the team realistically keep the winning streak going?
Their matchup over the weekend with Tigres was widely regarded as the spot in the calendar where the streak would end. However, a stellar performance by Jonathan Rodríguez, and Alejandro Zendejas lead the team to victory. The games that are coming up for Club America don’t seem to be as challenging as some of the other matchups that they’ve faced in the past few weeks. However, Liga MX is known for producing some surprises, it wouldn’t be odd to think that San Luis or Necaxa can pull off the upset. Oddly enough both of these squads used to belong to Televisa, the same company that owns Club America. There’s no brotherly love between the teams anymore though.
Is Club America A Safe Bet To Win Their Upcoming Games?
There are two things that could put Club America’s win streak in jeopardy. One of the things that could see the streak come to an end is the inevitable changes in the lineups that Fernando Ortiz is going to have to make against San Luis, and Necaxa respectively. The team played on Saturday night, and has to play again on Tuesday. The betting line is at -217 for a Club America win declaring them clear favorites for bookmakers. As was mentioned though, expect more playing time for the likes of Jonathan Dos Santos, Miguel Layun, and Pedro Aquino amongst others.
In just spelling those names out it’s pretty clear that Club America’s B team should be able to match up rather well with Atletico San Luis. Particularly with San Luis struggling to find their footing in the last few weeks. The Necaxa game is one that odds makers aren’t too sure about. Currently, America has a +106 line to win that particular game. If you’re one of those people who believe the “Aguilas” are going to run the table, that seems to be a much more interesting bet than the Tuesday game.
The Team’s Outlook For The Rest of The Way
Speaking of America running the table, historically it’s been really hard for any Liga MX to rack up wins consistently. Nacho Ambriz’s Leon team from a few years back comes to mind as one of the few sides in recent memory that was able to rack up a double-digit win streak. America plays the aforementioned San Luis, and Necaxa games before hosting Santos Laguna, and Chivas respectively. Despite the recent loss to Pachuca, and Chivas’ draw you have to think that both sides represent a bigger threat to America.
Even if the team isn’t holding a win streak coming into the playoff portion of the tournament they’ll want to collect decent results going into the playoffs. Particularly in the Chivas game. Even if the team comes in hot, a bad loss to Chivas who have proven they’re alive and well in the tournament after a shaky start as well could be a bad omen heading into the last part of the year. Also, being able to manage his squad with so many upcoming games is a true challenge for Fernando Ortiz who is still quite a novice manager. At the beginning of the league year managing his team through consecutive games proved to be a major issue for him. While Club America fans may be right to have high hopes it’s way too early to lay a claim on the trophy!
