Liga MX Femenil: America vs Atletico San Luis

America travel to San Luis Potosi to face Atletico San Luis tonight (5:00 PM PT/7:00 PM CT/8:00 PM ET). After losing to Monterrey at home, the Aguilas need to win tonight or they face the chance of being knocked down to fifth place after starting off the season with momentum.

Going into Monday night, the Azulcremas knew it was going to be a difficult night fending off the Rayadas from Monterrey. Unfortunately, they could not find the equalizer to at least walk away with a point and lost 1-2 at home. Aylin ‘La Joya’ Avilez opened the scoring for Monterrey in the 25th minute and America went into halftime knowing they needed to regroup if they wanted to turn things around.

Kiana Palcias equalized for America in the 54th minute, recording her 10th goal of the season. From there, America had opportunity after opportunity to take the lead but could not find the back of the net. Those missed chances would come back to haunt them when Christina Burkenroad scored in the 84th minute to give the Rayadas the lead and ultimately the win.

The loss doesn’t do any favors for head coach Angel Villacampa who now has the spotlight on him after some internal conflicts have been brought to light. Last Monday, Villacampa was filmed having a heated exchange with Katty Martinez and as a result, she was sent to train with the U-18 squad, but the punishment did not stop there and Martinez was not included in the roster against Monterrey.

Once again, things did not stop there. It was also revealed that teammates Renata Masciarelli and Janelly Farias both stood up for Martinez, resulting in Villacampa not including them in the roster against Monterrey or against San Luis tonight, and they will both be sent to practice with the U-18 squad as well. This situation is sad and frustrating at the same time. Players should be able to voice their opinions, respectfully of course, without fear of punishment. All this does is show the rest of the team that if they speak up against him, Villacampa will punish them. This is completely wrong and does not belong in Coapa or anywhere in the league. If this situation gets worse and America start to have bad results, the Villacampa experiment might just come to an end this season.

Hopefully the team is able to put aside all conflicts and focus on San Luis who are currently in 14th place and needs a win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. America have a very competitive roster and should be fighting for first place, but instead have issues from within that are stopping them from reaching their full potential. If they can fix all that, they can easily make a run for their second championship.

America Wins: 3

Draws: 1

San Luis Wins: 1

America goals scored: 11

San Luis goals scored: 4