Las Chivas de Guadalajara decisively defeated Club America at Estadio Azteca 3-0, and now, las Aguilas must make sense of its disastrous performance. A shutout loss to its biggest rivals looks bad for America, and with five points in five games, America has played far removed from how it started the season. Here’s my three takeaways from the 3-0 final of El Clasico.
1) America should worry
Before making a panic filled reaction, America still has time to right itself, but it should have serious concern over a lack of chemistry. Chivas dominated the game. A 3-0 final doesn’t reflect the complete control Chivas hammered on America. Every time America came anywhere close to the Chivas area, Guadalajara isolated the wing and kept them bogged down the middle of the area. America couldn’t come up with a clear shot and suffocated under the lack of space given by Chivas. Even when it had a corner or free kick, America couldn’t land a decent pass and essentially loss to Chivas playing its own game of wait and counter.
Other than Sambueza, I forgot completely about the America offense. They simply disappeared, and I wouldn’t have figured out they played had I not seen the lineup. Oribe Peralta could give the team the boost it desperately needs, but he can’t change the team. Darwin Quintero, Silvio Romero and Renato Ibarra have simply not played to their expected level recently. Defensively, America has not yet had a clean sheet. The defense played flustered against Chivas and instead of going after the ball, the defense took a reserved approach which ended up costing the team. America can do better, but Chivas showed the team can break apart.
2) America plays too late into the game
Las Aguilas didn’t skip any part of the 90 minute match, but it played to win for just about 20 minutes of the match. Down 2-0, America eventually began going deeper into the field, but the less than expected goal by Carlos Peña put away the chance of a comeback. America tried to attack from the wing, but despite how many times it failed, they kept going for it. I usually praise persistence, but a point comes when it looks ignorant. America looked ignorant. Seeing the team try the same thing hurt to watch, and if the team wants to play without creativity or with some game awareness, it deserves to lose.
3)They all stayed in the game
The only thing America had going for it was the lack of red cards given. A total of zero reds were given out. At least America can field the players it wants against Cruz Azul.