Mark Walsh

How the mighty have fallen. It’s a sign of the desperate times down at the Estadio Azteca that a rudimentary cup win at home followed by a scrappy derby draw in week ten of Mexico’s Primera División have been hailed as the first rays of a new dawn for América. Mixing his metaphors in the giddy excitement, club president Guillermo Cañedas White said his players had “got their claws out and played with pants” to rescue a point in the Clásico Joven.

CLICK HERE to read the team feature on Mexican soccer’s Clásico Joven between Cruz Azul and América!

In fairness to América’s embattled coach Rubén Omar Romano, the 2-2 draw away to Cruz Azul in the Clásico Joven on Sunday night was a decent effort, all things considered. Romano – a long-haired Argentine coach and former América player - was hired barely two months ago to halt a worrying slide into mediocrity. Perhaps nobody should have been surprised when the new start Américanistas had been hoping for looked suspiciously like the same old trash – after all, the man he replaced was Daniel “The Russian” Brailovsky, a man best described as, well, a long-haired Argentine and former América player.

At first, the only thing that seemed to have changed under Romano was that the worrying slide into mediocrity had become a terrifying bobsleigh ride into disaster. A recent run of five defeats in a row equalled América’s worst losing streak for more than 50 years and the team was sitting bottom of the table for the first time since 1970 before the trip across the capital to take on hated derby neighbours Cruz Azul this weekend.

In fact, Romano’s only solace had been the Copa Libertadores –Latin Américan soccer’s equivalent to Europe’s Champions’ League. His first match in charge in the opening game of the tournament brought his first win with a 2-1 home victory over Universidad Catolica, of Chile. Losing by a last minute Ariel Ortega goal in Buenos Aires against River Plate in the second group match was nothing to be ashamed of and last Thursday’s 3-1 triumph over Peru’s Universidad San Martín has put América top of the group and favourites to qualify.

That’s just as well, of course, because the Eagles are as useless as a chocolate fireguard in the Primera División at the moment. Even allowing for Mexico’s torturous group system (which gives even the no-hopers a chance of qualifying for the end of season play-offs until the last couple of games) América will find it tough to qualify for the domestic post season.

Nonetheless, as psychologists say, Cruz Azul came into the Clásico Joven with “issues” of their own. Winless in their last ten matches against América stretching back to 2003, the Cement Men had lost the previous five derbies. Before kick-off, the debate was less about who was going to win the derby and more about who would be most afraid to lose.

True to form, though, fourth-placed Cruz Azul looked more confident in the opening exchanges and the Celestes were handed a golden opportunity to exorcise their demons. On 30 minutes, Águilas defender Jesús Sánchez was shown a straight red for an ugly demolition job on Cristian Riveros and just ten minutes later Miguel Sabah connected with a powerful header to leave América on the ropes.

Blue-blooded fans in the Estadio Azul enjoyed their half-time tacos with the promise of another América collapse, but the Eagles emerged for the second half with admirable resilience. Inevitably, Cruz Azul enjoyed the greater possession, but an incisive through ball from América substitute Juan Carlos Mosqueda allowed crack Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas to control neatly on the chest, round keeper Oscar Pérez and level the scores.

Although Cabañas’ first name means “saviour”, América enjoyed parity for just four minutes. A second bullet header from Sabah was particularly galling for América: “I am 100% anti-Americanista,” the Cruz Azul forward had boasted in a successful attempt to ruffle Eagles feathers before the match. “You have to hate América for all the commercialisation,” he tactfully added.

The América players would have the last laugh, however, when substitute Federico Higuaín pounced on a poor clearance from defender Joaquín Beltrán to tie the scores for the second time. At the final whistle, Eagles defender Diego Cervantes took the opportunity to suggest Sabah keep his mouth shut in future – and if violence really is the last resort of a feeble mind, neither set of players will be invited to join Mensa any time soon. Angry words soon turned to pushes and slaps and the players had to be separated as they left the field.

Coach Romano admitted the draw against Cruz Azul would do little to boost the domestic scene for América, but insisted the manner of the draw could prove important. “Although it was only a point, with one man down and Cruz Azul coming to play, I think the result leaves a better taste in the mouth,” he explained. “It’s not much use to us as far as the league is concerned, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

If Américanistas were ultimately satisfied with a point, the Celestes left disappointed. In the tournament’s Group of Death, Chivas took another bite out of the opposition with a relatively comfortable 2-1 away win over relegation haunted Verzacruz on Friday night, while the Gladiators of San Luis vanquished a woeful Monterrey 3-1 at home on Saturday. Those results left Cruz Azul in third place in Group Three, though their 16 points would be enough to top the other two sections.

Elsewhere on Saturday, UANL Tigers’ recent upsurge in form crashed down to earth with a damaging 3-0 defeat at the hands of relegation rivals Puebla, while Morelia’s 2-0 home defeat against UAG Tecos cost David Patiño his job. Monarchs fans will be hoping a change of coach can work as well for Morelia as it has done for Jaguars. A fine 3-1 away victory over high-flying Santos was enough to give the Chiapas side a lead of Group One under new coach Sergio Almaguer.

Meanwhile, the 2-2 draw seemed to be the weekend’s favourite result with three other games matching the Clásico Joven scoreline. On Saturday, Atlas fought back from two goals down to level at 2-2 with UNAM Pumas, while the seasonal inconsistencies of Necaxa and Pachuca produced another tie at two – a result mirrored by Toluca and Atlante on Sunday.