Episode Guide
The Perfect Soap Opera The Two Sides of the Demand The History of a Classic The Eagle Falls Sweet Revenge The Future 2022 is shaping up to be a great year if you’re a football fan. Between All or Nothing: Arsenal and Welcome to Wrexham, we also have a controversial World Cup in November, a completely unpredictable Premier League season and clubs across Europe stepping up and trying to prove they have what it takes to win European cups. In many ways, the fierce competition and passion in Europe overlooks what’s happening across the pond in one of the most intense leagues of the world – Liga BBVA MX. Or, the Mexican Premier League. The focus here though is on Club América, the infamous “villains” of this league. Nicknamed The Eagles, the club was founded in 1916 and since 1959 has been owned by media company Televisa. With an impressive 100k seated stadium, and a fierce rivalry with Guadalajara (who are ironically the only other team alongside America who have never been relegated from this league), América has a pretty colourful history. This six episode docu-series dives into this in more detail, showcasing the exhaustive list of titles and accolades this club has managed to achieve, with each chapter breaking down a different aspect of Club América’s DNA. The first looks at the inception and early days of the club start things off in episode 1, interspersed around footage from the 2021 season. As the show progresses, we look at other aspects of the club through the decades, including that aforementioned rivalry with Guadalajara, dubbed the “National Classic”; the most intense match in Mexico. There’s also a nice episode looking at the positive side of failure and how that can make a team stronger, while the final chapter ends things on a refreshingly positive note, pointing out where the future of this club lies. A lot of this docu-series is pretty frantically edited though, with a lot of over-production on things like sound effects, cutaways, flashy visuals and bombastic narration. That final point is going to be contentious for some people, with Carlos Ballarta’s narration pretty hit or miss. Beyond that though, Club América VS Club América is an enjoyable and insightful look inside the home of the most successful club in Mexican history. The show does a great job fleshing out their history, although as mentioned above the production and overly stylized format is a bit hit or miss. Still, if you’re a football fan, there’s certainly enough here to like.
