Guillermo Almada will take charge of his first match as Club América’s director técnico on Saturday, 18 July, when the team visits Querétaro at La Corregidora. It is the start of a new cycle for Club América, and it begins with a trip to one of the league’s most familiar pressure points.
The match can be watched in Mexico and the United States through TUDN USA, Univisión, TUDN.com, Univisión NOW, the TUDN App and ViX. For readers searching for America Vs Querétaro, the draw is simple: Almada’s debut arrives now, not later, and it does so on the back of a club that is still trying to put the last two quarterfinal exits behind it.
Those exits have shaped the urgency around this first game. Club América was knocked out by Club de Fútbol Monterrey in the Apertura 2025 quarterfinals, then fell again in the Clausura 2026, when Pumas de la UNAM sent it home after a 6-6 aggregate tie and advanced because it finished the regular season as leader. The numbers matter because they explain why this opener feels less like a routine league date and more like the first public test of a reset.
That reset came with a change on the bench, as Club América moved on from André Jardine and turned to Almada. The coach now inherits a team that wants a quicker response, but he will not have a full hand to play in his debut. Luis Ángel Malagón is out because of injury, and Alejandro Zendejas is also unavailable for the same reason.
That is the part that complicates the clean story line. A new coach usually arrives with the chance to stamp an identity on the team immediately, yet Almada starts with two key absences and the pressure of two straight quarterfinal disappointments behind him. What he gets in Querétaro is not just a match, but an early measure of how fast he can make Club América look like his own side.
For now, the next fixed point is Saturday, 18 July at La Corregidora, where Almada’s first América lineup will answer the first real question of this new era: how much can change in one night, and how much still has to wait?
