▲ While Uriel Antuna celebrates his penalty goal that opened the scoring in favor of La Maquina, minutes later Julián Quiñones silenced the home of the celestials by scoring the tying goal. Photo Víctor Camacho
Alberto Aceves
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, May 24, 2024, p. a10
Style is the way of being of a team, that deep trait that indicates the sensitivity that moves its steps. And whoever has it, stands out, makes a difference that puts any rival in danger. America has built it to show its fans what it is made of. He defends it and competes with it to tie games like yesterday in the first leg final against Cruz Azul (1-1), because it is its largest capital, which makes it different from others.
I don’t like comparisons very much, but we have a squad with a lot of quality, declared the Águilas coach, André Jardine, on Wednesday, who has related that way of playing with the courage that faces life. Perhaps that is why his ideas are not only respectable for the team he leads, but they are also capable of producing responses after an error like the 1-0, in which Uriel Antuna punished a bad start by his defense.
The scoring champion striker created a kind of complicity between Israel Reyes and goalkeeper Luis Malagón, making them responsible for a delayed pass that ended in a penalty. Errors have an irrefutable result. Its effect is so forceful that the team that takes advantage of it does not even need to give explanations. The celestials understood it this way for several minutes, but the champion is a winning rival even when he defends.
The great merit of the American team was to verify that it knows by heart how to play on the big stages, even if that goes against its ideals. With a robust and star-studded squad, he left a new reference for his high emotional resistance when he waits and becomes much more calculating, waiting for a counterattack. That confidence that his forwards will know how to take advantage of the moments can explain better than any image the draw of the Colombian-Mexican Julián Quiñones (16).
The Cabalistic 33
Number 33, the cabalistic number of the celestial fans, closed a service from Henry Martín at the second post after a throw-in in which defender Gonzalo Piovi lost his mark. Like any great leader who knows how to manage the fears of the people he leads, the Argentine Martín Anselmi tried to make his instructions sound closer, more accessible and attractive to his players based on the encouragement of his fans with his already well-known war cry. Daaale, daaale, daaale Cruuuz Azuuul!
At times it seemed that The Machine, rather than seeking the other goal on the scoreboard, was fighting a battle against its own nerves. The breaks in a game often serve to demonstrate a coach’s ability to make an impact. Sometimes you need to find a respite; Others, however, try to modify something that does not work. The Argentine tried to do it in the face of an outside noise at the Ciudad de los Deportes stadium that began to create confusion in his squad, but then the best America reappeared.
After winning the last tournament, Brazilian André Jardine confessed that his challenge was to leave a mark on the club’s history, something that would last forever. Control of the ball for the Olympic champion coach in Tokyo 2020 is essential, although it only works if he fulfills the objective of becoming a danger in the rival area. Each figure on his roster offered him a specific skill. Just as Martín was a tamer of defenders, Quiñones concentrated on the merit of inventing plays and provoking the more than 30 thousand Cruz Azul fans with his gestures.
The finals require specialists and the naturalized Mexican forward is one of them. While he and Martín caused more than one silence with clear scoring plays in Kevin Mier’s goal, in the stands the match produced an anticipated old age. The fans rubbed their hands, choosing to stand and watch their rival’s attacks, asking for eggs and the tenth cup. A giant mosaic recalled a verse of the song Walk with meby Julieta Venegas (“Let’s celebrate that life crossed us), and the number 33, which for different reasons has brought better luck, once again took over its main headline.
But none of that was enough. As in May 2013 and December 2018, the two most recent finals in which they won, the Eagles forced the epic again. It is as if they were warning their rivals: if we are in the final, bear the consequences. His experience is the great ally for the second leg. After the failure in the Concacaf Champions Cup, the monarchs agreed to defend the only objective they had left: to enter the group of two-time League champions, where only Pumas, León and Atlas can boast their reserved place. They have 90 minutes left.
2024-05-24 09:16:56
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