Aston Villa ended their tour of the United States having lost all three games, with a late goal from Illian Hernandez inflicting defeat on Unai Emery’s team at the Soldier Field stadium in Chicago.
Hernandez scored the only goal as he pulled away before firing into the bottom corner for Mexican champions Club America.
Villa, for whom Ian Maatsen started for the first time, had almost taken the lead when Leon Bailey’s shot hit the base of the post, before captain John McGinn also hit the post from the rebound.
But Club América, supported by more fans than Villa, finished the game strongly and secured victory when Hernandez beat the offside trap and calmly finished past 20-year-old goalkeeper Oliwier Zych.
The defeat to Villa followed previous defeats against RB Leipzig and Columbus Crew on the tour.
“This pre-season match was to try to recover and prove ourselves against America, with a lot of Mexican fans here,” said Emery.
“We play trying to get in shape and work tactically, trying to show with our performance where we are going with different players.
“The result wasn’t good, but it gave me a lot of information.”
Palace concludes US tour with West Ham victory
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace beat Premier League rivals West Ham 3-1 in the US Cup.
Tyrick Mitchell scored after just 30 seconds at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa before West Ham equalized when Michail Antonio gained possession to score and score.
However, Jeffrey Schlupp headed in to make it 2-1 to Palace, before Odsonne Edouard wrapped up the victory with a powerful finish.
West Ham begin the new Premier League season against Aston Villa on August 17 and new manager Julen Lopetegui has accepted there is a lot of work to be done before then.
“This showed us that we have 15 days ahead of us to continue working hard and try to evolve the players we have as quickly as possible, and the new players as well,” he said.
“We’re working really hard and we know we’ve worked really, really hard, so it’s possible the legs were a little tired.”
Gomes shines again as Wolves claim a comfortable win
Wolverhampton Wanderers completed their US tour with a convincing 3-0 victory over German side RB Leipzig.
Lukas Klostermann’s own goal gave Wolves the lead in the 17th minute before Pablo Sarabia scored from close range to make it 2-0 in the second half.
Summer signing Rodrigo Gomes continued his impressive pre-season for the Premier League side by scoring his third goal in two games to complete the victory.
Gomes also scored twice in the 3-1 win over West Ham last week.
“He’s a real threat because he works tirelessly and always gets to the goal,” said coach Gary O’Neil.
“It was good to see how he fits in and he had a good week.”
