🦅 - ⚫🟡 The multimillion-dollar bounce-back match
Club América just missed out on a trophy. LAFC hasn't found its stride. Saturday could change everything for one of them.
Club América has been good at winning Liga MX titles but bad at celebrating them. At least in the public eye, Las Aguilas have often been too busy with other commitments - rushing abroad for a friendly match or heading home for holidays - to truly enjoy their glorious run of three consecutive Liga MX titles.
So, maybe it will end up going crazy and celebrating the first domestic title they’ve lost in a big way: Earning themselves and the club a boatload of money.
That’s what is at stake Saturday in a Club World Cup playoff against LAFC. Yes, in theory, the game is for the right to play in the Club World Cup, for these teams to test themselves against Chelsea, Espérance and Flamengo. It’s to uphold whatever ideals are literally etched into the mega-trophy.
But, really, the unexpected opportunity for these teams is a financial one. Win Saturday’s sold-out match, and your club gets an extra $10 million minimum, with the chance to win much more with each good performance in the tournament. Neither América nor LAFC have small budgets or small ambitions, but that type of cash influx can, at a minimum, help bring in one difference-making player.
The prize money is one thing. The potential of getting revenue from the specific games - be it with merchandise sold or advertising deals - and also of winning over entirely new fan bases
“This tournament is important for a number of reasons. Finances, I think, are important, but it’s not the most important for América,” Aguilas boss Andre Jardine said Friday night. “América is today a club that is financially well put together, well-developed in all aspects - but obviously when big amounts come in, it’s good for the club. I think the top thing is the América brand crossing the borders beyond Mexico. The club is preparing for that.”
It has not been a fun week for América. Jardine and his staff hoped to rush their players through a fourth straight title celebration before getting hydrated and hopping the plane to California. Instead, they fell to Toluca 2-0 in the second leg of the final after a scoreless first leg.
Going scoreless over two legs only has magnified América’s frustration this season: It has great attacking players but, this tournament, has not had a great attack.
América felt the absence of forward Henry Martin was part of the reason for their 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup elimination in the quarterfinals. But even with Martin back from an Achilles injury, the América attack hasn’t meshed in the way it has in previous tournaments.
Worse still, Martin came out of the second leg of the final injured. While he’s been working intensely to be fit for this match and traveled to LA, it seems likely he’ll be, at best, limited. That could mean a start for Rodrigo “El Bufalo” Aguirre, a physical forward who gives wingers Alejandro Zendjas and Victor Davila (or one of Jardine’s other options) a target but has been inconsistent in front of the net.
The attack is the biggest question mark for Las Aguilas, but after struggling to control a strong attacker who goes on runs to set himself up but also creates for teammates, stopping LAFC attacker Denis Bouanga also could be tricky for América. For much of the year, it looked like LAFC, too, would need a ‘bounce-back’.
Though they didn’t lose a title like América, they started the season uncharacteristically inconsistent and were bounced from the CCC at the quarterfinal stage by Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. Now, with Bouanga in good form and better contributions from rising stars David Martinez and Nathan Ordaz, the LAFC attack seems to be achieving a bounce-back that will see it fight for trophies once again this season.
The América back line has been solid this season, conceding only 10 goals in 17 regular season matches. Goalkeeper Luis Angel Malagon anchors the group, which has played in both a back four and a back five.
Malagon had a strange week, not only managing the emotions his teammates were about losing a final but also releasing a video alongside his wife after allegations of domestic abuse - allegations América angrily insinuated may have been planted by Grupo Pachuca rivals still frustrated by this match taking place and América accepting the invitation to play in it after León was kicked out of the tournament for sharing ownership with already-qualified Pachuca.
Trafficking in rumors is certainly not the response, but América and LAFC are, indeed, in an odd scenario. “We have, obviously, this one game to take advantage of a situation that was presented a couple weeks ago,” LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo acknowledged. “Four weeks ago this was not on the schedule so we see this as a massive opportunity.
While the teams will ‘decide it on the field’, it’s the same field where LAFC lost to Club León on June 4, 2023 for the right to be in this competition.
Still, players are excited - whether their motivation is the club’s accounts, their own wallets or something else.
“It’d going to be a great final, better than the MLS final because it would open a big door,” Bouanga said in French on Friday.
The winning club and its players are getting a chance to enter into a competition that is designed to get the eyes of the world on it. Whether or not multitudes will tune-in remains to be seen, but the prize money will be there, as will the opportunity for players to be seen by sporting directors whose radars they may not typically be on.
Of course, LAFC may have extra allocation money to convince players to stick around and continue pushing for MLS glory, while América can use a bit of sweetener to make staying in Mexico that much more appealing than going to Europe.
Whether it be América or LAFC joining the Club World Cup party, it seems Saturday’s winner will have every reason to enjoy a long celebration - not needing to spare any expense.