Guillermo Almada Starts Unbeaten and in First Place with America Through Four Matchdays

Four matchdays, zero losses and first place in the Apertura 2026 standings already in hand. That's how Guillermo Almada's start at the helm of America looks so far, a beginning that has Coapa excited but that, if you look back at the Uruguayan's career in Liga MX, comes as no surprise at all. Almada has done this before. In fact, he's done it better.

The Uruguayan coach arrived at Las Aguilas with a reputation as a specialist in fast starts, and the numbers back it up. Every time he's taken over a Mexican club, his teams have opened unbeaten and near the top of the table. He never fails to start strong. The catch, if you want to call it that, is that those runs never turned into a league title.

From Santos to Pachuca, a pattern repeats itself

It all began in the Apertura 2019, when Almada took charge of Santos Laguna. Los Guerreros won their first four matches (against Chivas, Juarez, Puebla and Atlas, the last of those at Estadio Jalisco) and reached Matchday 4 with 12 goals scored and just two allowed, the best offense and the best defense in the league at that point. The party didn't last long: the very next matchday, Necaxa snapped their unbeaten run with a resounding 3-0 win.

With Pachuca, in the Clausura 2022, the story repeated itself on an even bigger scale. Los Tuzos went unbeaten for nine matchdays, with eight wins and a draw, beating heavyweights like America, Chivas, Cruz Azul, Toluca, Tigres and Atlas along the way. It was, without exaggeration, the best start of his career in Mexico. The unbeaten streak ended right against Santos Laguna, who beat him 3-1 in Torreon, in something of a scheduling irony.

That precedent is the yardstick for measuring what he's doing now at America. Surpassing those nine matches without a loss would be, for Almada, his best personal mark in Mexican soccer. And there's something more important behind all this: none of those promising starts, not with Santos and not with Pachuca, ever turned into a championship. That's the real unfinished business.

The immediate test: Matchday 5

The next exam comes quickly. America visits FC Juarez to open Matchday 5 of the Apertura 2026 on Friday, August 21, at 9:00 pm Mexico City time (11:00 pm E.T.) at Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez. If Las Aguilas pick up all three points, they'll match Santos's 2019 start and be just five matchdays away from equaling the mark Almada set with Pachuca four years ago.