Club America is top of the league.
The Eagles defeated Tigres UANL 2-1 on Saturday at the Azteca Stadium to become the new leaders of the 2022 Liga MX Apertura table with 25 points in 12 games and a record of 8W-3L-1D.
Jonathan ‘Cabecita’ Rodríguez opened up the scoring only seconds after the initial whistle, connecting with Alejandro Zendejas to manage the left footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner of the goal. André-Pierre Gignac managed to level the score in the ninth minute of the match, but his efforts were quickly overshadowed by Tigres defender Igor Lichnovsky’s own goal before halftime.
Despite a turbulent start to the campaign, Fernando Ortiz’s side is now back to its winning ways and fighting for the title.
“We have never avoided the word ‘champion,’ we have said it, the requirement of this club is to be ‘champions,’ we aim at that, being a leader gives us the possibility of finishing the tournament being up, but we should not be afraid of that word. We do seek to be champions,” Ortiz said.
“We won like a playoff match. The players were the protagonists of this victory…I am happy to have won such an important game. I am happy that the players understand the message we tried to send, of where to go and where not to go, and it reflects on the pitch.”
But as the regular season comes to a close, the team cannot let their guard down. With five games left to be played, Club America must remain in the top four to qualify directly into playoffs.
Though the Eagles currently lead the table, Monterrey, Pachuca and Santos Laguna are not far behind. There’s only a three point difference between first and fourth place, giving way for any top tier team to take the lead.