Club América Preseason Review

Club América got their offseason/preseason off to a quick start as they signed a pair of Mexican defenders - 27-year old Luis Reyes from Atlas and 20 year-old Jorge Sánchez from Santos. The defenders, both of whom play as wingbacks, should help to strengthen one of the weaker positions in Miguel Herrera’s squad from the previous tournament. These two players could allow for players like Edson Álvarez and Carlos Vargas to get more playing time in their natural central defensive positions.

Shortly after the signing of Luis Reyes, rumors began to swirl that las Águilas had secured the signing of Dutch international Luuk De Jong from PSV. Everything pointed towards the player signing for Club América. Representatives, including De Jong’s father, visited Mexico City to meet with Club América officials about a potential move. In the end, however, the move fell apart and many fans of the Mexico City squad were left feeling a bit deceived about the whole busted transfer saga.

Perhaps the biggest piece of offseason news regarding Club América was the transfer of Brazilian attacking midfielder William Da Silva to Toluca during the Liga MX Draft. Da Silva had been one of América’s best players since signing a three-year deal with the club in 2016.

Las Águilas officially kicked off their preseason friendlies with a matchup against Atlante in Cancún. The match which was played without head coach Miguel Herrera, who at the time was in Russia as part of Televisa’s World Cup coverage, featured a mix of established first team players and youngsters in the starting lineup. In the end, las Águilas were triumphant against their Ascenso MX opposition.

Around this same time, rumors once again began to swirl about the possibility of Club América signing another big European player like Jérémy Ménez. Shortly after these rumors first began to sweep across social media, las Águilas announced the signing of 24 year-old Colombian striker Roger Martínez from Villarreal CF for an undisclosed fee. Previously the young Colombian attacker played for Racing Club of Argentina and Jiangsu Suning of the Chinese Super League.

Many fans reacted angrily to the news of Martinez’s signing by Club América. For some, the anger was directed at the fact that Club América was signing another foreign attacking player instead of giving opportunities to a Mexican player like Henry Martin. Others felt as though they had been deceived - expecting an established European player as opposed to a young Colombian who had barely made an impact playing with Villarreal CF apart from one golazo against Real Madrid.

A week after their first preseason frieldly, las Águilas kicked of their Tour Aguila of the United States against defending Liga MX champions Santos Laguna at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. With Miguel Herrera back on the bench, a largely veteran Club América side easily dispatched Club Santos thanks to goals from Henry Martin, Cecilio Domínguez, and Jérémy Ménez.

Las Águilas then travelled down to McAllen, Texas to take on los Tuzos de Pachuca on the 4th of July. The match, which featured yet another heavily pro-América crowd was the most exciting of the preseason so far. The starting XI featured new signing Jorge Sancez as well as one player from the Fuerzas Basicas in an otherwise veteran squad. Two goals from Cecilio Domínguez and one from Fernando González were enough to propel Club América to their third straight preseason victory.

Las Águilas will now head to California to take on Monarcas and Atlas before rounding out their tour of the United States with a match against Manchester United at University of Pheonix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on July 19th. The matchup against Manchester United comes just three days before the start of the 2018 Apertura tournament.