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Liga MX Odds and Ends: Coach chatter and Big 4 talk

By Thomas Buckley

Chivas coach Víctor Manuel Vucetich has one foot out the door at Guadalajara and Chivas fans would be delighted to give him a little push. (Photo by Jaime Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images)
Chivas coach Víctor Manuel Vucetich has one foot out the door at Guadalajara and Chivas fans would be delighted to give him a little push. (Photo by Jaime Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images) /
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Liga MX, Coaches, Big 4
An image América fans have seen all to often: Nicolás Benedetti being carted off the pitch. Coach Santiago Solari is hoping that is all in the past.  (Photo by Leopoldo Smith/Getty Images) /

América reconsiders, will hold onto ‘El Poeta’

Nico Benedetti appeared to be the odd man out at América after coach Santiago Solari agreed to welcome Renato Ibarra back to La Coapa over the summer. Ibarra – an Ecuador international – had been booted from the club in 2020 after an ugly domestic violence incident that even saw Ibarra spend time in jail.

After a year in exile “on loan” to Atlas, Ibarra returned in August, scoring upon his debut back in an Aguilas uniform. However, the winger suffered an injury that same day, with the Aguilas declaring it season-ending. Ibarra angered América management by seeking a second opinion, and his new doctors claim he could be available to return in a matter of weeks.

At the same time, Santiago Baños was working to loan out Benedetti and acquire Darwin Machis from Spain’s Granada. But with the Ibarra injury and the Machis deal scuttled, the América GM suddenly had two “foreigner” spots unfilled. (Liga MX regs allow each team to include up to 10 foreign players on its game-day roster.)

Benedetti was already on his way to Mazatlán FC when the Aguilas reneged on the deal. América determined it best to hold onto the Colombian playmaker so as not to be caught short.

“El Poeta” has oodles of talent but he has been beset by one injury after another since joining “Los AzulCremas” in January 2019, making it impossible to establish himself in the Aguilas’ rotation.

Another player getting whispered about in América circles is Jonathan dos Santos. The Team Mexico stalwart currently plies his trade for the L.A. Galaxy, but he is out of contract in December.

Some argued that Jona was unlikely to sign with the team he grew up dreaming of playing with (his father, Zizinho, played for América in the 1980s) because of the way they treated his brother, Gio. The elder Dos Santos remains without a club after his unceremonious dismissal by the Aguilas over the summer.

But then last week, Jona was seen clowning around with goalie Memo Ochoa at a Team Mexico practice. Audio of the incident appears to indicate Jona was urging the Aguilas captain to convince coach Solari to sign him up. Naturally, the Galaxy man could have just been playing around in front of the cameras, but it would make for an interesting addition to an already sturdy midfield.

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