The typically orange BBVA Compass Stadium was filled with yellow when 22,070 Mexican league soccer fanatics attended the friendly match between Club América and Tigres UANL on Saturday.

Despite the absence of some of Tigres’ top players, they were still able to come out with the 3-2 victory.

#5 Fernando Fernandez and #17 Hector Mancilla filled the space in their roster, scoring all three Tigres’ goals in the first half.

Fernandez scored early in the eighth minute, knocking in a goal after his initial attempt was blocked, but it was Mancilla who came up big with two goals in the 18th and 45th minute.

Despite his great game, Mancilla said that what comes first is how well the team functions, what they did well and what they did poorly. To him, the amount of goals he scored comes second.

On the other hand, América had a disappointing first half, unable to score a single goal and walked into the locker room down 3-0.

Goals are what have a say in the outcome of the game, and it was only Tigres who made them, said América’s manager Ignacio Ambriz about the first half. He said they had one or two close opportunities to score, but they couldn’t complete them.

The fans would see two different lineups in the second half with both clubs making 14 total substitutions in the final 45 minutes of the game.

América would play as if it were a completely different team, as well.

The attitude they showed in the second half improved a lot, said Ambríz. They were able to maintain better possession of the ball in the second, something they struggled to do in the early part of the game.

The new attitude would pay off for América when they were finally able to score in the 63rd minute, an assist from Brian Lozano to Oribe Peralta off of a free kick.

América’s constant aggression would even cause a Tigres’ costly mistake. In the 76th minute, América’s Rubens Sambueza centered the ball to Oribe for a shot, forcing Tigres’ Jose Juan Garcia to try and deflect it, but it would go into his own goal.

Both teams would continue to go back and forth, but América wasn’t able to score again, resulting in their loss.

What the team takes away from the loss is all that they did well in the second half, said América’s Darwin Quintero. They showed another face in the second, he said, and the team knows that games like that helps them get better.

They club will return to their Liga MX schedule when they face Chiapas FC this Saturday, April 2.

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