Mexican powerhouse showing good signs for '07

	With a healthy Cuauhtémoc Blano (right) and Nelson Cuevas (23) finally coming together, América's attack is delivering on its promise. AP
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An internationally renowned club with heroes defending the team's colors. A trophy case filled with hardware proving the club's worth. An immense, global fan base that numbers in the millions.

Chivas de Guadalajara or Club América?

Supporters of both sides can make such claims about their respective clubs. Both Chivas and América continuously churn out top international prospects. Both clubs have diehard supporters that put most other clubs' followers to shame.

But when it comes to recent successes, Chivas has the upper hand. Internationally, Guadalajara has reached the semifinals of each of the past two Copa Libertadores tournaments and captivated Mexico each time. América, meanwhile, won the largely ignored CONCACAF Champions Cup that only served as a pathway to the disastrous FIFA Club World Cup.

Domestically, Chivas entered the Clausura 2007 season as the title holder and, to emphasize its superiority over América, bounced the Azulcrema from the playoffs with a semifinal triumph. But América will try and rise up to the challenges in '07.

América's high hopes of global grandeur were dashed in a hurry in Tokyo. Losses to FC Barcelona and Al-Ahly of Cairo left the club reeling. The ability to bounce back from such devastating results was questioned and the pressure mounted.

"The front office was upset, the fans were upset and we were upset with ourselves. We were disgusted with the results," América coach Luis Fernando Tena said. "We make high demands for ourselves. We played poorly in Japan and we know we have to make up for it with our fans. That's what motivates us."

Having to perform under pressure and intense scrutiny is nothing new to América players, though. Veteran Duilio Davino said he takes the expectations in stride. Attempting to conquer the Copa Libertadores is just another obstacle América must overcome.

"With this team, there is always that pressure," Davino said. "But we really don't see it as pressure. We see it as an opportunity to participate in an important tournament."

América possesses one of the strongest attacks in all of Mexico, and the club is finally delivering on what appeared so promising last season. With Salvador Cabañas, Nelson "Pipino" Cuevas and Matías Vuoso joining the fray in '06, América's attack was supposed to have taken off.

Yet six months after the club assembled the high-profile names, it appeared the experiment had failed. Vuoso struggled for starts and scored a career-low five goals. Cabañas led the team with nine goals but was maddeningly inconsistent. Cuevas was the biggest flop. The Paraguayan World Cup veteran started just seven times and had zero goals after scoring eight in the previous two campaigns with Pachuca.

As a result, América scored just 21 goals -- a figure surpassed by nine other clubs. América jettisoned Vuoso back to Santos but showed faith in Cabañas and Cuevas, and the duo has responded.

Cabañas had a hat trick in América's 5-0 thrashing of Peruvian side Sporting Cristal in the first leg of the clubs' Libertadores play-in series. Cuevas played an instrumental role in helping América reach the series in the first place. He scored a game-winning goal against Tigres in InterLiga on Jan. 10 and then bagged the decisive spot kick in the clubs' shootout affair three days later.

Throw in a healthy Cuauhtémoc Blanco and América's offense is finally showing some of the promise it hinted at before the Apertura '06 season.

With higher productivity come even higher expectations. Dealing with those sky-high hopes and demands can get to players but at América that pressure is ever-present.

"Daily, you have to deal with the pressure. It doesn't matter if you're doing well or not, the pressure is always there in América," goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa said. "You just have to try and not focus on what the media says and all the criticism and think about soccer and what happens on the field."

Yet no matter how good the start of this year has been for América, a true measure for this club will not come until May, at the earliest.

"Things didn't go well at the end of the season," Ochoa said. "We had a good regular season but nobody likes to lose to Guadalajara. At the [Club] World Cup against Barcelona, well, we had a bad game. We have to vindicate ourselves and try to do things right."