For Club America, greatness is measured in titles, but when it comes to crossing the border, the giant costume is broken. The recent and painful elimination in the front wing of the 2026 Leagues Cup final against the Monterrey Rayados is not any stumbling; it is the reminder of a wound that has been open for ten years.
Since that night in 2016 when they defeated Tigres to crown in the Concachampions, Coapa’s vitrines have not again received an official international trophy. A drought that looks very unpleasant for the most winning team of the Mexican ballet.
America has reinforced itself strongly, is betting on youth and continues to export talent to Europe??With Guillermo Almada at the forefront, the Eagles want to build a new generation of stars.Do you like it or not, America continues to give what to talk about ??? pic.twitter.com/vTOVKRx92N
The binacional contest against the MLS has transformed into an authentic nightmare for the Eagles, adding already four painful consecutive crashes in which they have remained empty.
The Curse of the League Cup: Four Years of Frustration
America’s idylly with this tournament has been a real calvary. The story of trolls began with the Nashville SC, squad that painted their faces in the penalty quarters during the final eighth. The story repeated the following year, when the Colorado Rapids dispatched them from the eleven steps.
For 2025, the bitter drink came early to be out of the league phase, and the final stake of this 2026 was given by the Rayados in an alluring semi-final where, at the end of accounts, a criminal controversy put America at the crucial moment for the steering wheel at the international level, where they ended up failing as they have done in the last ten years.
A Concacaf full of ghosts and pending accounts
Failure is not exclusive to the Leagues Cup; the area tournament, the Concachampions, has also become a hostile terrain. After the 2016 championship, the team entered a bunch of absences and downs. In the 2016-17 edition they could not even defend their crown by not getting the ticket.
For 2018, already with a new format, the Toronto MLS closed their way into the semi-finals, ruining what it painted to be a season final against the Chivas. After missing in 2019, the 2020 brought another blow in the same semi-final instance, this time at the courtesy of Los Angeles FC.
Érick Sánchez points out that the desired score was not achieved; in addition, he shares his opinion on the penalty that gave him the draw to Rayados. pic.twitter.com/mgKUsm212c
The gold chance returned in 2021, but they lost the final to Rayados, a double-expensive break that also took away their direct ticket to the 2025 Club World Cup. After seeing the 2022 and 2023 editions pass on television, the return to the tournament in 2024 ended in another drama by being eliminated by the Pachuca in semi-finals.
In 2025, the Blue Cross won the quarter-finals. The last disappointment occurred this same year, when the Nashville SC returned to do theirs by defeating them at the Banorte Stadium in another of the strikes to the pride of the Eagles.
The cloak in the coffin: the worldwide repeat that was not
By mid-2025, an unexpected window opened. In the face of Leo’s multi-ownership problems, America was put on the table as the ideal candidate to take that passage to the Club World Cup. FIFA and Concacaf joined a single-match express repeat in California against Los Angeles FC to define the last guest. However, the Eagles remained on the shore again by falling by 2-1.
The Champions Cup: A trophy that doesn’t heal the wound
In Coapa, they often presume to win the 2024 Champions Cup, which they won in penalties to the Columbus Crew. Although the trophy looks beautiful in the vitrines, the regulatory reality is cold: not being an officially endorsed tournament by the Concacaf, it enters the category of friendly titles.
? to America’s fans surprised with a typhoon that left a strong message during the Leagues Cup semi-final: “The owners of the cabbage” ??? pic.twitter.com/9gN3Mzdroe
No matter how many rounds the Olympics turn on American soil, the verdict is unavoidable.America is dragging an international historical debt, and the clock of drought already marks a full decade of drought.
