Club America debuts in the Leagues Cup defeating St. Louis City 4-0

Club América’s debut in the Leagues Cup could not have gone any better after defeating St. Louis City 4-0. While there are some adjustments that need to be made, it’s a positive sign to come out victorious against the MLS Western Conference leaders by four goals. Now America will gear up for their next rival (Columbus) on Monday night after starting out the competition on the right foot.

América wasted no time in making their mark in the competition by scoring only five minutes into the game. Leo Suarez was outside of the box battling to keep the ball and managed to pass it off to Julian Quiñones. Quiñones then flicked the ball over to Henry Martin who put it into the back of the net to set the tone for the rest of the night.

The next 15 minutes were spent with the visitors holding possession and going after their second goal. Meanwhile the home team were having trouble creating any danger, as whenever they had the ball, they were stopped by the defense. Then, in the 20th minute, Martin was attempting to return the favor to Quiñones by sending him a cross that he just was not able to reach. Six minutes after a failed attempt by St. Louis, Alvaro Fidalgo went on the counter, but his shot went wide. Fidalgo attempted another shot a few minutes later, but St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki was there to intercept the shot. The next 15 minutes were spent with América looking for a second goal before the half ended, while the home team wanted a goal to tie up the game, but their attempts went nowhere. St. Louis were in a big need of the break.

The second half started off just like the first with América scoring to double their lead. Leo Suarez had the ball outside of the box when he sent a cross in that found the head of Quiñones who sent the ball flying into the net to double the lead.

Things then went from bad to worse for St. Louis as they allowed a third goal only three minutes later. Martin had the ball a bit past midfield when Kevin Alvarez made a run up the midfield and got the ball. From there, it was only him and the goalkeeper, Quiñones was behind him as another option, but the youngster took the shot himself and got it past the goalkeeper for the third goal of the night.

After that, St. Louis continued to fight for a goal to at least get on the score sheet, but they could not capitalize on any of their chances. The final nail in the coffin came in the 77th minute when Alejandro Zendejas sealed the deal and scored the final goal of the night. The score was a team effort by Brian Rodriguez and Suarez, as Rodriguez took the ball up the field and passed it off to Suarez who attempted to give it back, but the ball was just out of reach for Rodriguez, yet in the right spot for Zendejas who didn’t hesitate to shoot.

St. Louis are currently the Western Conference leader of the MLS, but all it took was 90 minutes for them to be routed by América. They did not look good at all and the visitors took complete advantage of that. This is a Club América side who struggled a bit with their international players away, but now that they’re back, this might only be the start for a team stacked with talent.