San Diego.- A great goal by Henry Martín, with a backheel, gave América the qualification to the Round of 16 of the Leagues Cup after beating Atlas 2-1.
When the match was at its most complicated due to the red-and-black tie, the captain of the blue-cream team defined in an exquisite manner to leave Hugo Martín Nervo and the goalkeeper Camilo Vargas out of action, after a fantasy play made by Javairo Dilrosun.
In addition, Henry reached 109 goals with América and tied the historic José Alves in fourth place among the top scorers for the Azulcremas.
The Eagles will now face St. Louis City, a team they beat 4-0 in the previous Leagues Cup.
América has quite a revenge in this tournament, which in its first edition was thoroughly dominated by MLS teams.
It was Érick “Chiquito” Sánchez who put the azulcremas ahead in the 20th minute, a play in which he caught a rebound from goalkeeper Camilo Vargas, after a shot by Javairo Dilrosun. The play originated from a loss of the ball by the red-and-blacks after a throw-in.
Although América dominated the first half, it was unable to finish off the red-and-blacks, who had already given warning at the start of the second half with a header from Jeremy Márquez. The equaliser fell in the 59th minute thanks to a header from Rivaldo Lozano, in the face of weak marking from Igor Lichnovsky.
The blue-cream team had already lost Sebastián Cáceres due to an injury.
The tension could have increased if it weren’t for the skill of Dilrosun and the brilliance of Henry, who is now only below Octavio Vial (152 goals), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (153) and Zaguinho (188) on the list of the top scorers for the Azulcremas.
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