GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Ventura Alvarado’s dream Liga MX final turned sour on Thursday, with Club América losing 1-0 in Estadio Universitario to Jose Torres’ Tigres in the first leg.
The 22-year-old right back seemed to lose his footing as Tigres left winger Damián Alvarez sprinted past him and crossed for Joffre Guerrón to head in the only goal in the 64th minute.
After the game, América coach Antonio Mohamed defended Alvarado.
“Damián Alvarez could get past Cafu, he’s in the best form of his career,” said Mohamed in the press conference.
Alvarado, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, had looked nervous in just his fourth Liga MX start – all of which have come in the last three weeks – getting caught on the ball by Torres one minute before halftime to create an opportunity Tigres should’ve done better with.
The match was a tight affair, with defense taking priority for both teams over committing players forward into attack, in turn leading to a scarcity of clear chances.
Like Alvarado, Tigres’ Torres also went the full 90 minutes, although Herculez Gomez was an unused substitute.
The Texan featured on the left of Tigres’ midfield, linking up play well and breaking up América’s attacks in a solid performance.
Torres didn’t push forward as much as he usually does and instead sat in front of left back Jorge Torres Nilo for periods, feeding the ball to the dangerous Alvarez as often as possible.
Away goals don’t count in the Liga MX final, leaving the Apertura second leg on a knife-edge for Sunday’s second leg in Estadio Azteca (7 pm ET, Univision, Univision Deportes).
