América demolish San Luis in Apertura semi-final first leg

Club América sent a warning to both Tigres and Pumas after the club from the capital demolished Atlético San Luis at the Alfonso Lastras in the first leg of the Apertura 2023 semifinals.

Diego Valdés and Julián Quiñones bagged doubles with Henry Martin also on target for the men from Coapa and barring an unprecedented turnaround from the rojiblancos as América take a step closer in their quest for a 14th league title.

Diego Valdés opened the scoring after 4 minutes to stun the home fans. Henry Martín doubled the visitors lead just ten minutes later and San Luis were always second best in the contest with a 65th minute strike from the Uruguayan ending any outside hopes the home crowd would have at a San Luis comeback. Julián Quiñones bagged his second of the night after 85 minutes and added a fifth deep into stoppage time.

Although América were dominant in large swathes of the game, San Luis shaded the possession game but only mustered three shots on target throughout the tie. Andre Jardin’s side were hugely effective in front of goal converting 50% of the chances that came their way.

The side from Potosi now head to the Estadio Azteca on Saturday where anything less than a win will see their season come to an end.

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Five goal precedent

The only glimmer of hope for San Luis hails from the only previous time that America bagged five goals in a semifinal, they were eliminated. This happened in the Clausura 2014 against Santos Laguna.

The ‘Azulcremas’ ran out 5-3 winners in the first leg but fell 3-1 in the second leg with Santos advancing by virtue of a higher regular season league placing.

Atlético San Luis

• 1 Andrés Sánchez
• 5 Ricardo Chávez
• 4 Julio Dominguez
• 20 Unai Bilbao
• 8 Juan Manuel Sanabria
• 13 Rodrigo Dourado Cunha (79')
• 10 Dieter Villalpando
• 7 Jhon Murillo (45')
• 16 Javier Güemez
• 19 Sebastien Salles-Lamonge (61')
• 11 Vitinho (78')
• Substitutes
• 2 Juan Castro (79')
• 17 Ángel Zaldívar
• 25 Jürgen Damm (45')
• 30 Jordan Silva
• 32 Diego Urtiaga
• 9 Leo (61')
• 27 Benjamín Galdames
• 10 Mateo Klimowicz (78')
• 31 Eduardo Águila
• 187 Iker Moreno

América

• 1 Luis Malagón
• 19 Miguel Layún
• 31 Igor Lichnovsky (74')
• 2 Luis Fuentes
• 4 Sebastián Cáceres
• 17 Alejandro Zendejas (73')
• 6 Jonathan (73')
• 8 Álvaro Fidalgo Fernández
• 33 Julián Quiñones x2
• 21 Henry Martin (73')
• 10 Diego Valdés x2(86')
• Substitutes
• 23 Emilio Lara
• 29 Roman Juarez del Castillo
• 20 Richard Sánchez (73')
• 3 Israel Reyes (74')
• 16 Snatiago Naveda Lara (86')
• 27 Óscar Jiménez
• 32 Leo Suárez (73')
• 11 Jonathan Rodríguez (73')
• 5 Kevin Álvarez
• 26 Salvador Reyes

Substitutions

Jürgen Damm (45', Jhon Murillo), Léo Bonatini (61', Sébastien Salles-Lamonge), Richard Sánchez (73', Jonathan dos Santos), Leo Suárez (73', Álex Zendejas), Jonathan Rodríguez (73', Henry Martín), Israel Reyes (74', Igor Lichnovsky), Mateo Klimowicz (78', Vitinho), Juan Castro (79', Rodrigo Dourado), Santiago Naveda (86', Diego Valdés)

Goals

0-1, 3': Diego Valdés, 0-2, 13': Henry Martin, 0-3, 64': Diego Valdés, 0-4, 83': Julián Quiñones, 0-5, 94': Julián Quiñones

Cards

Referee: Adonai Escobedo González
VAR Referee: Fernando Hernández Gómez, Ismael Rosario López Peñuelas
Rodrigo Dourado Cunha (62',Yellow)