Cruz Azul and América, two of the Mexican League's giants will steal all the headlines on Saturday evening when they meet at Estadio Azul. Los Cementeros will want to win their second match of the season while playing at home, while Las Aguilas will try to extend their unbeaten streak.
The last meeting between the two teams ended up with a victory for Las Aguilas, when Oribe Peralta scored the game's only goal last semester. On the other hand, Cruz Azul has not lost a game against América at Estadio Azul in the past six years. In fact, America's last visit ended with a 4-0 scoreline favoring the team in blue.
Cruz Azul
Sergio Bueno's job as head coach might be at stake, since the team's performance has been below expectations. Usually a solid team in defense, La Máquina has allowed twelve goals so far this season, while their strikers have found the back of the net seven times.
Cruz Azul has lost two out of their three home games. The first one against Morelia, and the most recent match against Tijuana. La Maquina allowed three goals in each of those games, so their defense, led by shot-stopper Jesus Corona, will have to improve if they want to make something happen.
Christian Giménez, who had a brief stint with Las Águilas, will be wanting to hurt them once more, just like he did last year. Argentinean-born striker Matias Vuoso also played for América earlier in his career, and he will surely try to make an impression against his former employers.
América
The game against one of their most hated opponents comes in the best moment for Los Cremas. Ignacio Ambriz's team started off slow, but their four game unbeaten streak proves that hard work has paid off for his side. During those four games, América has scored 12 goals, allowing only one.
The team's attacking department has enough weapons to hurt Cruz Azul. Mexican striker Oribe Peralta and Argentine Dario Benedetto are among the league's goal scoring leaders, while Rubens Sambueza and Andrés Andrade have their fair share of assists to their name. If they can't get past Cruz Azul's defense, Michael Arroyo and Darwin Quintero can be the difference coming off the bench.
America's good run was praised by Mexico's newly appointed coach, Ricardo Ferretti, who decided to call up four of their players: goalkeeper Moises Muñoz, right back Paul Aguilar, holding midfielder Javier Güemez and striker Oribe Peralta. All of these players could be key to the game's outcome, given their influence on the team on and off the pitch.
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