Club América sneaks past St. Louis City, advances to Leagues Cup Quarterfinals

CARSON, Calif. — The LA Galaxy’s run in the Leagues Cup ended last week in Seattle, yet there was still Leagues Cup Round of 16 action at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Club América advanced to the quarterfinals after escaping an upset-minded St. Louis City, 4-2 Tuesday evening.

Just over a week after archrival and fellow Liga MX giant, Chivas Guadalajara, hosted a match at DHSP, it was Club América’s turn to use the facilities.

As Liga MX’s No. 1 seed, América receives the right to host up until the final. However, since all Leagues Cup matches are hosted in the United States, the tournament organized ‘hub sites’ to host the higher ranked Liga MX clubs and reduce travel.

St. Louis, currently ranked 13th in MLS’ Western Conference, gave America all they could handle.

“I’m literally as pissed and upset as I could possibly be, but at the same time, I’m really proud of the way we played,” interim head coach John Hackworth said afterwards. 

With a possible early elimination looming, Diego Valdes stepped up for América late.

Valdes’ header in the 80th minute rejuvenated Las Aguilas and the Americanistas on hand went bezerk.

Four minutes later, St. Louis would be called for a handball and América was rewarded with a penalty kick. Rodriguez stepped up and sent his shot in the back of the net to make it 3-2 just before stoppage time.

“Today’s match was very strange, very different from what we like because it gets out of control. Even when we were winning, we never felt like we were in absolute control of the match,” Club America manager Andre Jardine said.

The crowd of 15,746 in attendance, as expected, was almost entirely América supporters and Brian Rodriguez gave them something to cheer for early as he put Las Aguilas ahead. Diego Valdes picked up the assist on a great build up.

América was in complete control throughout the first half, but St. Louis’ Noekkvi Thorisson missed a shot in front of an empty net just before the break.

St. Louis came out swinging in the second half, knotting up the score less than five minutes into the period.

Indiana Vassilev sent one past Luis Malagon and let the pro-América crowd know exactly how he felt afterwards. Vassilev appeared to spit toward the crowd, which was mostly wearing yellow and blue.

The visitors kept their foot on the gas, as América was called for a penalty in the area.

Eduard Lowen stepped up and buried his penalty kick to put St. Louis ahead, 2-1 in the 55th minute.

While most were chanting and singing throughout the first half, DHSP sounded like a library after St. Louis scored two quick goals.

“We played a really good game ourselves, until the last 20 minutes I thought we had good control of that game,” Hackford said.

City would continue to search for another tying goal late, which ultimately backfired. 

After clearing the net to send all 11 players into the attack, Rodrigo Aguirre had nothing but green grass between him and the goal as he scored the final goal in stoppage time.

Next, Club América will host the Colorado Rapids in the quarterfinals, to be played once again at Dignity Health Sports Park, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and on Apple TV.