Match Preview: Santos Laguna vs Club América

Club America head to Torreon to face Santos Laguna tonight (10:05 PM ET/ 9:05 PM CT/ 7:05 PM PT) looking for their second win of the season. The Coapa club had struggled its first few games and until all those issues disappeared last week as they easily defeated Mazatlan. Now, the Aguilas hope to take down fifth placed Santos on the road and get back to their winning ways.

America come into tonight’s matchup on a high note after crushing Mazatlan last week 6-0. Even though they maintained early possession, it took them 30 minutes to get going. Once that first goal went in, the floodgates opened and there was nothing Mazatlan could do. Jonathan Rodriguez, Diego Valdes, Richard Sanchez all scored a goal to add to Henry Martin’s hat-trick. With the three goals, Martin now has 73 with the club and currently sits 12th in all-time scoring for Club America. There’s no doubt Martin will break the top 10 by the end of the season.

Santos come into the match after a hard fought 2-2 draw against Atlas on the road where there were moments they were outplayed. Escaping Estadio Jalisco with a point is a positive, but not enough knowing they’ll face the Aguilas who are heavy favorites to win the championship every season. They lost the lead twice that night and will need to tidy up on defense if they want a chance of keeping all three points tonight.

The last time these two met, the game ended in a 3-3 draw at Estadio Azteca with Santos just seconds away from walking away with all three points. They started strong with two goals in the first half and were able to score another in the second to go up by two, but that wasn’t enough to hold back an America team that had been knocking on the door all game long. An own goal allowed the Aguilas to get to within one goal of the draw and the eventual equalizer came in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Two crucial mistakes cost Santos the win.

Tonight’s game is anyone’s to take. America are known to have slow starts every season, so Santos need to be smart and take advantage of this early on. As long as America’s offense can be slowed down, they have a chance, but once the floodgates are opened, there’s no way to stop America.

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