Perhaps Club América’s greatest player in the Concacaf Champions Cup has been Alex Zendejas.

Tuesday night, as the Mexico City squad played Pachuca in the first leg of the continental championship semifinal, the winger for the U.S. men’s national team scored his sixth goal overall and gave América the lead.

But Andrés Micolta’s equalizer gave the visitors a crucial away goal, and the game ended in a 1-1 draw that will present a difficult challenge for América the following week.

All of the players in this edition of the Champions Cup, aside from Salomón Rondón of Pachuca, who leads the scoring chart with seven goals, have scored more goals than Zendejas.

It also continues a pattern for Zendejas, who has been playing really well for las Águilas in Liga MX and in all tournaments. The native of Ciudad Juárez has made 43 appearances between the Champions Cup and Liga MX play (encompassing the Apertura and Clausura tournaments, as well as the Apertura playoffs), tallying 14 goals and seven assists.

The USMNT player’s early strike versus los Tuzos was exactly what América needed to take the lead in the 12th minute.

At first, the sequence appeared to elude him, as Israel Reyes crossed for Henry Martín from the right. The attacker was only able to keep the ball out of Pachuca’s defense, though, and Zendejas was quick to react, hammering it in before Micolta could step in.

See Zendejas put America ahead.