Americas

Americas Top Five: Vela and Alzugaray are perfect tens

The Mexican became a record-breaker, while his colleague in Argentina dominated San Lorenzo for Cordoba.

 
2:15pm on Monday 7th October 2019
By
Martin Macdonald

The only region to feature two perfect 10 ratings this week is the Americas, with Carlos Vela netting a hat-trick for Los Angeles FC in the United States and Lisandro Alzugaray starring for Cordoba versus San Lorenzo in the Superliga Argentina.

Overall, the best performances could be found in Major League Soccer as the American league has three players featured in our top five.

MLSOct 6, 2019W
Carlos Vela W (R), S (C)
  • 90'
  • 10

    The Mexican scored three goals of huge quality this week as Los Angeles FC defeated Colorado Rapids 3-1. He needed just one goal to beat Josef Martinez's record for the most goals scored in a single MLS season. In the end, he got three. The first two were spectacular - a curled strike into the top corner from 25 yards followed by a bouncing bicycle kick - while the third was neatly slotted home from close range.

    The 29-year-old assisted the opening goal of the match with a defence-splitting pass through for Jonathan Herrera to score, then scored his first of two with a delicate chip over the oncoming goalkeeper in a display of brilliant composure. Even though the goal of the match was arguably the third, scored by Marcelo Meli, Alzugaray ensured the game would be remembered for him as he netted his second with a slid finish past the keeper to make it 4-1. He had a further two shots on target, too, only to be foiled by opposition stopper Nicolas Navarro.

    Chicago Fire were already 3-1 up against Orlando City before Frankowski scored his two goals, but still merits a place for taking the game beyond the hosts in remarkable fashion. The Pole scored one of the goals of the weekend, anywhere in the world, when he cleverly backheeled the ball into the bottom corner from 12 yards while facing away from goal, in was a magical display of opportunism. His second wasn't bad either - a looped touch over the goalkeeper followed by a headed finish from basically on the goal line.

    The assist king of this weekend is Thonny Anderson of Paranaense, who was vital in the win over Bahia despite starting the game on the bench. After just eight minutes he replaced Nikao, and eventually set up the opening goal for Marcelo with a whipped corner-kick from the left wing. The second, which doubled the lead of the visitors, saw Leo Cittadini latch on to a ferocious cross from Anderson to divert a finish past the despairing goalkeeper.

    LA Galaxy simply could not handle the pace and power of Elis as they succumbed to a 4-2 defeat against Houston Dynamo. The Honduran scored his only goal after holding his position at the back post to receive a lofted pass to slot into the bottom corner. However it was only after that he turned on the style, as he assisted the next two goals for Christian Ramirez and Memo Rodriguez after a pair of dazzling, direct runs down the right-hand side, with the second featuring a sprinkling of some lovely skill, too.

    HONOURABLE MENTIONS

    Another two MLS entries here, as Julian Gressel (8.9) of Atlanta Utd and Christian Ramírez (8.9) of Houston were both vital in their side's wins over New England Revolution and LA Galaxy respectively. Gressel scored the clinching goal in a 3-1 win, while Ramirez had to play second-fiddle to the aforementioned Elis despite scoring two in the 4-2 victory over the Galaxy.

    ROUND TO FORGET

    Two of the worst performers of the week are, unfortunately for Club America, within the same team. Carlos Vargas (4) and Bruno Valdez (4.4) were pretty hapless at the back in their side's comprehensive 5-2 defeat from Cruz Azul. The former made a direct error leading to a goal, while, between the two of them, they made just one tackle all evening. Neither player successfully won a header, or even made a single interception! It is quite impressively bad, actually.

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