America welcome Santos Laguna to the Azteca as they make up their postponed Week 5 match

America welcome Santos Laguna tonight (7:05 PM PT/9:05 PM CT/10:05 PM ET) at the Estadio Azteca as they play out a postponed Week 5 match. A win for the hosts will mean their spot at the top remains safe, while a win for Santos will move them into third place with only two points between them and America.

Santos come into the game after a thrilling draw on the road. They visited Queretaro where the game went back and forth and as the game was near the end it looked as if the hosts were going to be walking away with the three points. In the ninth minute of stoppage time, Santos were awarded a corner kick and goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo made his way into the box for a last ditch effort. It paid off as Acevedo got his head on it and the Queretaro goalkeeper had no chance of stopping it, resulting in Santos going home with a point.

While America were missing Alejandro Zendejas, Pedro Aquino, Guillermo ‘Memo’ Ochoa, and Diego Valdes on Saturday, they will have them all back for tonight’s match. Zendejas was especially missed. He is in the best form of his career right now and with the way the team played in the first half, they were in need of him. While America still pulled off the win with a roster full of players who don’t usually see minutes, they need to have their regular starting lineup on the field. Santos are not a team to take lightly. They slowly but surely made their way into the top four for a reason.

It’s not an understatement to say that Santos have a difficult task ahead of them. They are tasked with defeating an America team that have steamrolled their opponents. Since starting their turnaround back in week seven, the Aguilas have scored 26 goals and only conceded four. Five of their games were shoutouts and four of those five were consecutive. If this game was played back in week five, more likely than not Santos would’ve won the game considering America were in bad form due to their busy international friendly schedule. It wasn’t until two weeks later that they started their comeback.

All-Time Record:

-America Wins: 45

-Santos Wins: 21

-Draws: 20

Last Match Played: February 20, 2022; America 3 - 2 Santos