Preview: Saprissa vs América

Today our Aguilas return to see CONCACAF Champions League action tonight as they take on Costa Rica's Saprissa. They'll be playing the 1st leg away at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium and will play the second leg at the Estadio Azteca next Wednesday on March 4th. Today's match has a lot of excitement behind it because it's between the most recent champions of each club's respected league of the knockout bracket. América won the 2014 Apertura just a few months ago and Saprissa won the 2014 Invierno tournament. Another interesting fact is that both clubs currently share the title of the tournament's golden boot Martín Zúñiga and Ariel Rodríguez sharing 5 goals each.

The best that Saprissa has done in CONCACAF's edition of the Champions League was when they reached the semifinals in the 2010-2011 edition of the tournament. Their amazing run was cut short when they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Real Salt Lake. While América's best performance has been reaching the knockout stage of this edition of the tournament.

América arrived to Costa Rica yesterday with all, but two players Darío Benedetto and Miguel Samudio. Benedetto didn't make the trip because the club decided that it would be best for him to rest for a few days from active competition. While Samudio hasn't fully recuperated from his minor injury that he suffered from last week's training before the game against Pumas UNAM.

Tonight's game will be broadcasted live on Univision Deportes Network at 8:00pm Central Time.

Recap: Pumas vs América

América captured their first clásico of the season yesterday when they visited Pumas at CU. América came into the match hoping to have a similar repeat as they did last week against UNAM's feline counterpart Jaguares where they beat them 5-0 in the Azteca. Pumas returned home with a 3-0 defeat suffered at the border when they faced Xolos. The university squad were hoping to make their fans forget about last week with a win against their cross-city rivals.

The first half started at midday and right from the get go Pumas didn't hesitate to start taking shots at Moises Muñoz's goal. The first half of the game fell in favor of UNAM with the unorganized passes and possession that América had with the ball. For the Americanista it looked as if the ghosts from the Apertura were going to return and give the locals an early advantage at the half. One of the clearest shots for Pumas was when Eduardo Herrera received a through cross, took a clear goal shot, but was denied by Munoz's knee.

The second half went under way and Pumas still tried looking for their 1st goal when Sosa came down the left side of the field, took the ball in, and took a shot at goal. Though Muñoz was able to get his hands on it and then grab it so that he can restart the play from the back.

The goal of the game came in the 52nd minute where Sambueza runs towards UNAM's goal with the ball at his feet. An opposing defender tries knocking him down from behind, but Rubens continues to run in box and takes a shot at goal. Saldivar blocks Sambueza's shot, but Dario Benedetto wins it in the air and scores with a heel kick to put the visitors 1-0.

(Mexsport)

After the goal América continued to attack and could've added at least 3 more goals to the score, but ended up settling for a 1-0 win that puts them in 2nd place with 14 points (2 points behind Xolos). As for Pumas they tried finding the equalizer during the closing minutes of the game by having more players go up in offense, but that wasn't enough. The loss for Pumas puts them in 16th place with only 5 points.

América's next game is this upcoming Saturday at 5 and they'll take on Leones Negros at the Azteca Stadium.