By Jorge Hernandez
Nov 20, 2024, 02:01 AM EST
André Jardinetechnical director of Americathe two-time Mexican soccer champion team, He is not afraid of the absences that his team may have after the FIFA date, He assured on the eve of the play-in match of the Liga MX that will have against Tijuana Xolos this Thursday.
The coach was confident in the press conference prior to the duel and said that his team has the quality and talent necessary to beat anyone even if he could not count on several of his most outstanding elements, who were called up by their national teams and could arrive tired or hurt.
“We have a large cast that is capable of beating anyone. “We would like to be more complete to be stronger and have a better level than we have, but we are confident that we have a cast with sufficient quality for these challenges,” said the coach.
By finishing in 8th place in the general table of Apertura 2024, the Águilas will have to play the play-off duel against 7th, in this case Xolos. The match will be in Tijuana and the winner will advance directly to the Liguilla of Mexican soccer, The loser will have one more chance to advance, as they will face the winner of the match between Chivas and Atlas, 9th and 10th places, respectively, in the Mexican tournament.
For this match, Jardine will have to wait until the last moment to form his starting eleven while waiting for the selected players who left with their respective teams on this FIFA date.
“In Tijuana We will wait for everyone to find out how they are. We know that they can arrive with fatigue or injuries, From that we will know who we can count on for the game, in any case we will be ready for any absence,” said the strategist.
The selected players that the Águilas contributed to their national teams can be divided into two groups: those who competed in the South American qualifiers, which are Rodrigo Aguirre and Brian Rodríguez, with Uruguay; Cristian Borjafrom Colombia; and Diego Valdes, from Chile; and those who played in the Concacaf Nations League: Ángel Malagón, Israel Reyes and Henry Martín with the Mexican team, and Alejandro Zendejas with the United States.
Finally, the strategist asked Mexican soccer managers to better plan these games so as not to affect the teams, although he did not want to delve into details.
“This is the calendar, whether it is fair or not to have so many absences due to the FIFA date does not correspond to us, there are people who must dedicate themselves to better aligning these dates to have the least impact on the competition,” he concluded.
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