Club America Rallies to Win

The torch at the peristyle end of the Coliseum was lit, but nothing could match the intensity of the crowd of 88,816 whose loyalties seemed evenly split between Las Chivas Rayadas del Guadalajara and Las Aguilas del America late Wednesday night.

Club America of Mexico City rode a pair of second-half goals by Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Christian Gimenez to upend Chivas, 2-1, in a Mexican friendly as the nightcap of a doubleheader that saw the Galaxy beat Chivas USA, 1-0, in a Major League Soccer game.

Chivas took a 1-0 lead into the half on Alberto Medina’s 26th-minute goal and the “home team” was feeling good about itself at intermission.

In a halftime ceremony, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in Spanish, welcomed the four Chivas USA reinforcements to town in a midfield ceremony -- Francisco Palencia, Juan Pablo Garcia, Hector Castro and Sergio Garcia.

The good feelings ended quickly, though, when Blanco, who entered at the half, scored in the 48th minute and Christian Gimenez scored five minutes later.