Having won 12 of a total of 17 matches in the Liga MX Apertura first phase, Club América topped the table and headed into the knockout rounds as the heavy favourites.
The Águilas lost just three matches all season and in the two-legged quarter-final, came up against the eighth seed in Puebla who had won merely four matches. The quarters were a breeze for the Mexican giants who easily disposed of Puebla 11-2 on aggregate.
With sixth-placed Toluca next up in the semi-finals, it looked as though progression to the final would be easy for América. However, it turned out to be anything but.
In the first leg at home, Toluca were 2-1 victors in what was an incredibly frustrating night for Fernando Ortiz’s side. Nevertheless, in front of their own fans at the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City, América had an opportunity at redemption and to turn the tie on its head.
Unfortunately, while Ortiz’s men weren’t beaten at their own stomping ground in the 1-1 draw, they couldn’t find the extra goal to level the tie on aggregate, falling to Toluca who were subsequently thrashed 8-2 across both legs in the final to winners Pachuca.
Their quest to be Apertura champions ended in dismal doom and questions were being asked of the manager after such a promising league campaign.
Let’s take a look at why Mexico’s biggest club fell at the penultimate hurdle against a much weaker side on paper. This tactical analysis piece will be a scout report of the predictable tactics used by Ortiz, as well as an analysis of what led to the side crashing out of the final phase in an unexpected fashion.
Formations
Ortiz never had to be overly flexible with the formations he would use. Club América arguably possess the best squad in Mexican football and were winning the vast majority of their league matches, meaning that the manager rarely had to bend to the will of the opposition.
For the most part, Ortiz set the Eagles up in a 4-4-2 formation this season but rotated between the conventional shape and a 4-2-3-1, replacing one of the centre-forwards with a number ‘10’ in an attempt to get more creativity between the lines.
There were even a few occasions where América structured themselves close to a diamond with a 4-1-3-2 as well as a 5-3-2 to be less permeable from a defensive point of view.
Again, América haven’t used a great variety of shapes in the Apertura but didn’t really need to, given that they were the dominant side in Mexico’s top-flight division.
