Players like Emilio Lara and Illian Hernández received criticism for their performance at the Independencia Stadium in the duel against Real Estelí.
Real Esteli surprised the America in the First Round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the azulcremas players who are substitutes in Liga MXbut who received the opportunity to be starters in Nicaragua did not meet expectations.
footballers like Ramon Juarez, Emilio Lara, Richard Sánchez, Santiago Naveda, Brian Rodríguez e Illian Hernandez They were part of the initial lineup of André Jardine contra EsteliHowever, they could not put in a good performance in the Independence Stadium and even players like Lara y Hernández They received harsh criticism on social networks for various mistakes they made.
After the 2-1 defeat in Esteli, Jardine He was questioned for not using his starting team and the Rio strategist pointed out that he is forced to rotate players due to the intense workload of matches.
Emilio Lara received criticism for his performance against Real Estelí, in the Concacaf Champions Cup. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
“Rotating or not does not guarantee winning. You can always rotate and not win, unless you want to kill players with our players. We rotate or kill the 11 to play all the games. America is the sum of all the players we have. We have to use each player at the moment when they are freshest, strongest and each player take advantage of their opportunities and show the level they are at and next week there is a decisive game and we must include those we see in the best week.” , he pointed.
Jardine I accept that America was “overtaken” by Real Esteli and indicated that despite the disaster in Nicaraguan territory, André He clarified that he has no intention of changing his philosophy and will continue to rotate players.
“We have to be smart, because the calendar is long. We have many games and continue to balance our loads and give everyone a chance. It is not because of defeat that we are going to change our form,” he commented.
What does America need to move forward?
For the return match that will be held on February 14 in the Mexican capital, Jardine needs to put some of its best players on the field from the beginning, such as Kevin Alvarez e Igor Lichnovsky in defense as well as Jonathan dos Santos y Álvaro Fidalgo in the center of the field and Diego Valdes creating scoring opportunities.
America is obliged to win Esteli in the second leg by a difference of two goals to qualify for the Round of 16. If the match ends 2-1 in favor of the Eagles, the match would go into extra time and the winner could be determined in a series of penalties.