Almada’s Academy Bet Has Two Liga MX Goals Already

Alejandro Cárdenas scored his first Liga MX goal for Club América on August 2, coming on for Henry Martín in a 3-0 win over Santos Laguna. Guillermo Almada had listed the 20-year-old from Mérida among four academy bets in July, and Cárdenas now takes the captain’s late minutes.

The finish arrived in stoppage time from an Érick Sánchez ball, with the shirt number 189 on his back. It was the first hard number on a wager Almada has been running since he named América head coach on June 7.

Cárdenas Came On for Martín and Scored

Cárdenas, born July 28, 2006, joined América in 2021 and had more than 30 youth goals, including five for the under-19s in the Apertura 2025. The Henry Martín talk came from that box movement and from Yucatán, the same state that produced the captain.

The league numbers since the Santos night are small and clean. FotMob lists 113 minutes and one Liga MX goal across four matches, with one start and a 7.18 rating. He put all five of his league shots on target.

Almada did not treat the goal as a surprise. After the Santos match he pointed at the week’s work, then at the door he wants open for any young player who is in form.

Ha trabajado durísimo y se ha merecido esa oportunidad, viene en ascenso, tiene grandes condiciones y seguro que el club va a disfrutar de un gran futbolista en el presente inmediato y en un futuro porque es muy joven.

Guillermo Almada, América head coach, after the Santos match

The pattern around Martín is now a substitution script. Cárdenas came on at 58 minutes against San Diego, at 77 minutes against Columbus Crew, and at 83 minutes in the Leagues Cup semifinal against Monterrey on September 2, a 2-2 draw that Monterrey won 5-4 on penalties. He started the 90 minutes against Puebla on August 30 and the first 60 against León on September 6.

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The louder doubt is not that Santos finish. It is whether he can hold a center-forward shift in open play, where he can drift and lose the ball, and whether the club will keep feeding him once the attack is crowded.

Who Has Broken Into Almada’s América XI

In July the first look at Coapa put four academy names on Almada’s board: goalkeeper Paolo Bedolla, midfielder Diego Arriaga, forward Adrián Fernández de Lara, and Cárdenas. Two of those four now have Liga MX goals. The other two have not appeared in a published Almada matchday squad.

THE JULY FOUR, SCORED IN SEPTEMBER

Arriaga is the other cashed chip. He had already debuted on January 10, 2025, under André Jardine. On August 16 he started against Atlético San Luis and scored after the 20th minute of the second half in a 3-0 win, his first league goal, before leaving at 76 minutes.

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Bedolla is Norberto Paolo Bedolla Muñozledo, a Morelia-born keeper from January 1, 2006, who trained with the first team from June 14. The academy goalkeeper who actually started a Liga MX game under Almada was Fernando Tapia, 25, back from loans at Venados and Querétaro. Fernández de Lara, the fourth July forward, has not shown up in the lineups the club has posted.

Minutes Go to Whoever Outplays the Veteran

Almada’s public rule is blunt. If a young player is better than a man with a longer résumé, the young player plays. After Santos he named Cárdenas, Arriaga, and Ícaro da Conceição in the same breath and said it was about output, not service time.

The club had already promoted Ícaro from the under-23s before Jornada 1 at Querétaro, alongside returns for Emilio Lara, Franco Rossano, and Miguel Ramírez. That is the door. It does not stay open for every name from a July list.

WHO ACTUALLY GOT THE DOOR

• Cárdenas: First league goal, a 90-minute start against Puebla, and Martín’s late minutes in cup games.
• Arriaga: First Liga MX goal against San Luis and a start in that academy-heavy XI.
• Ícaro: Promoted from the under-23s and praised by Almada after a strong outing.
• Tapia: The academy-trained keeper who started against San Luis, not Bedolla.
• Patricio Salas: Another Coapa forward, 22, loaned to Famalicão on September 2 after Almada took the Portuguese club’s call.

Salas is the cost of the same rule. He had already answered in the previous tournament, and the objection around Coapa was that he created more danger in a short burst than Cárdenas did in longer looks. Almada still moved him to Portugal on a one-year loan. The bet is minutes, not a protected queue.

The Same Method That Lifted Cervantes and Álvarez

This is not a new habit Almada brought to Mexico City. At Santos Laguna from 2019 to 2021 he handed first-team debuts to eight academy players, among them Omar Campos, Jordan Carrillo, and Santiago Muñoz, and he turned Carlos Acevedo and Alan Cervantes into regulars. The Guardianes 2021 side that reached the final sat around 24 years of age.

At Pachuca, from December 2021 through May 2025, he handed out 16 academy debuts across seven tournaments. The squad’s average age fell from 26.3 in the Clausura 2022 to 23.8 in the Clausura 2024, the lowest in Liga MX. By May 2024, 14 of those debuts had logged 241 first-team matches and more than 12,700 minutes.

Transfermarkt’s ledgers on seven of those careers show a rise of more than €22 million while he coached them. Érick Sánchez went from about €4 million to €10 million. Kevin Álvarez went from about €5 million to €7 million. Acevedo climbed from about €400,000 to €5 million, Cervantes from about €700,000 to €3.5 million. Elías Montiel, debuted at 17 in the Apertura 2023, and Alexéi Domínguez, debuted at 18, now sit at €6 million each.

SALES ON THE ALMADA TRACK

Those seven sales add up to €38.6 million on Transfermarkt, which records prices, not what the clubs cleared. Álvarez, Sánchez, and Cervantes now play for Almada again at América. The method is the same: cut the average age, give the kids real minutes, and let the market reset the price later.

Henry Martín Still Occupies the Nine

The Martín comparison was always a succession story wearing a scouting hat. Martín, 33, born November 18, 1992, in Mérida, has 101 Liga MX goals for América and remains captain. Almada kept him when the previous staff was ready to let him walk, and the club later blocked an exit.

He has repaid that in the league table. Martín has 3 goals in 5 Liga MX matches and 406 minutes. Cárdenas has 1 goal in 113 minutes. The late substitution is a handoff, not a takeover.

THE TWO NINES, SIDE BY SIDE

• Martín, Liga MX: 3 goals in 5 matches, 406 minutes, still the starter.
• Cárdenas, Liga MX: 1 goal in 4 matches, 113 minutes, 1 start, 5 shots on target.
• The swap: Cárdenas has replaced Martín in four cup or league windows, including the 83rd minute against Monterrey.
• León, September 6: Cárdenas started and lasted 60 minutes in a 0-1 loss, Almada’s first 90-minute defeat, a game he called the worst since he arrived.

Martín still talks like the senior voice. After León he said the result hurt because the team had been winning and doing things well, and he asked for more punch in both boxes. The captain is not a ceremonial nine. He is the man Cárdenas is being measured against, in the same city, from the same state, in the same minute of the same games.

Six Homegrown Names Started Against San Luis

The fullest picture of the bet is not a highlight. It is the San Luis lineup on August 16. Almada sent out a side that averaged 24.6 years, with six academy starters, and won 3-0. Raphael Veiga scored, Óscar Perea scored, and Arriaga finished it.

The six from Coapa that night were Tapia, Ramón Juárez, Miguel Vázquez, Emilio Lara, Dagoberto Espinoza, and Arriaga. Ícaro, formed in the same system, started too. Patricio Salas came off the bench. That is a first-team night built from the building next door, not from a winter window.

América had opened the Apertura with almost no new signings and with World Cup players still easing back. Isaías Violante scored the 1-0 winner at Querétaro on July 19. The 3-0 against Santos on August 2, with goals from Martín, Brian Rodríguez, and Cárdenas, put them top. The San Luis night made the academy share of that lead visible.

Cruz Azul Arrives With the League Lead Intact

THE BET, DATE BY DATE

1. June 7, 2026: Club América names Almada head coach on a two-year deal, three days after André Jardine leaves by mutual agreement.
2. June 14, 2026: Bedolla trains with the first team. The other July names are still in the academy group.
3. July 19, 2026: Almada’s Liga MX debut is a 0-1 win at Querétaro. Cárdenas is unused. Arriaga is on the bench.
4. August 2, 2026: Cárdenas replaces Martín and scores the third goal in a 3-0 win over Santos.
5. August 16, 2026: Arriaga scores his first Liga MX goal. Six academy players start in a 3-0 win over San Luis.
6. September 2, 2026: Salas leaves on loan to Famalicão. Cárdenas replaces Martín at 83 minutes against Monterrey.
7. September 6, 2026: Cárdenas starts against León and lasts 60 minutes in a 0-1 Leagues Cup defeat, the first 90-minute loss of the Almada era.

The league table has not cracked. América holds first with 16 points from six Liga MX games, a 5-1-0 record, 12 goals scored and 2 conceded, the longest unbeaten run in the Apertura at six matches. The results are Querétaro 0-1, Atlante 1-1, Santos 3-0, San Luis 3-0, Juárez 1-2, and Puebla 2-0.

Cruz Azul, sixth with 12 points from seven games, hosts América on Saturday, September 12 at Estadio Banorte. Cárdenas is in the mix for that night, and so is Martín. Two of the four July names have already scored in the league. The other two have not, and Salas is already in Portugal. That is the live total on Almada’s bet, with 11 regular-season games still to play.