With three straight games without a win, this weekend the ‘Eagles’ of America will face the Pumas, one of their greatest rivals, in the most attractive match of the twelfth day of the Apertura-2021 Mexican soccer tournament.
Led by Argentine Santiago Solari, América had won six of its first eight games, then lost undefeated status by falling 3-1 to Toluca and then in its two most recent performances it drew 0-0 with Guadalajara and 1- 1 with Pachuca.
Even so, the ‘Águilas’ remain at the top of the standings with 22 points and this Sunday at the Azteca stadium against the Pumas they will try to add three units again to establish themselves in the first place.
“We have generated plays, but we did not make them concrete,” Solari admitted and stressed that “if we continue to lead, it is because the tournament is complicated and everyone has difficult days, but we will work to try to dominate the next game.”
For their part, the National University Pumas have had a tournament to be forgotten: with just eight points they occupy the seventeenth -penultimate- place in the standings.
The university Pumas are the second worst offense with just six goals in favor – America has 14 – but the differences in the statistics do not make the felines a complex.
“There is no abysmal difference between the two teams, I don’t think there is any difference, we are two great teams,” said Juan Dinenno, Argentine forward for the Pumas.
– Guadalajara Classic –
On Saturday at the Akron stadium in the city of Zapopan the classic tapatío will be played between the ‘Chivas’ from Guadalajara and the ‘Zorros’ from Atlas, two teams that are going through very different moments.
In their two most recent appearances, the ‘Chivas’ have shown different facets, on Saturday they drew 0-0 on the road with the leader América and on Wednesday they were beaten 1-0 by Querétaro, which until then was bottom.
“This result instead of going down makes us ready to face the classic,” said Michel Leaño, interim technical director of the ‘Chivas’.
The ‘Foxes’, with an orderly football, are prowling the top of the classification with 19 units and will try to make up for the defeat suffered at midweek by 1-0 against Puebla.
“There is nothing better than a rematch in a classic,” said Argentine Diego Cocca, Atlas technical director.
Full time. Friday: Puebla-Pachuca. Saturday: Juárez-Monterrey, León-Atlético San Luis, Santos-Mazatlán, Guadalajara-Atlas. Sunday: Toluca-Querétaro, America-Pumas, Tigres-Necaxa, Tijuana-Cruz Azul.
Positions:
– Pts J G E P GF GC DIF
1. America 22 11 6 4 1 14 7 7
2. Monterrey 20 11 5 5 1 17 9 8
3. Toluca 20 11 6 2 3 18 15 3
4. Atlas 19 11 5 4 2 12 5 7
5. Tigers 17 11 4 5 2 17 11 6
6. Atlético San Luis * 16 11 4 4 3 16 15 1
7. Lion 15 10 4 3 3 13 12 1
8. Cruz Azul 14 10 3 5 2 13 9 4
9. Guadalajara 14 11 3 5 3 8 9 -1
10. Mazatlan 14 11 3 5 3 14 17 -3
11. Santos 12 10 2 6 2 12 9 3
12. Necaxa 12 11 4 0 7 12 16 -4
13. Puebla 12 11 2 6 3 9 13 -4
14. Pachuca* 11 10 3 2 5 12 11 1
15. Juárez ** 11 11 3 2 6 10 17 -7
16. Querétaro ** 9 10 2 3 5 5 10 -5
17. Pumas 8 10 1 5 4 6 12 -6
18. Tijuana 7 11 1 4 6 9 20 -11
* The match Pachuca against Atlético de San Luis on the fifth day was postponed to November 3.
** The Juárez vs. Querétaro match on matchday 10 was postponed to October 8.
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