Henry Martín’s hat trick was the defining image of América’s 2–4 win over Necaxa on September 27 at Estadio Victoria. To understand the match, it helps to separate the two halves: the Águilas responded twice to deficits before halftime and scored the only two goals of the second half. It was a comeback with several stages, not a scoreline América controlled from the start.
The timeline published by Liga MX makes it possible to reconstruct where the score changed. Necaxa opened the scoring in the 37th minute, went ahead again in the 43rd, and still went into halftime tied. América took its first lead in the 56th minute; Henry’s penalty in the 75th extended the lead to two goals.
How the score changed
| Minute | Scorer | Necaxa–América |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | Owen González | 1–0 |
| 39 | Henry Martín | 1–1 |
| 43 | Julián Carranza | 2–1 |
| 45+10 | Henry Martín | 2–2 |
| 56 | Miguel Borja | 2–3 |
| 75 | Henry Martín, penalty | 2–4 |
Only two minutes passed between Necaxa’s first goal and Henry’s reply, according to the official record. The second equalizer came in first-half stoppage time. That final play changed the situation for both teams as they headed to the locker room: Necaxa lost its lead, and América avoided starting the second half needing to come back from another goal down.
Borja changed the team that was leading
Henry scored three of the four goals, accounting for 75% of América’s scoring that night. Borja’s goal, however, served a different purpose: it turned the tie into a lead. The Colombian scored in his third consecutive appearance in his first three Liga MX matches, according to the tournament’s statistical summary.
That explains why reducing the match to the hat trick leaves out an important piece. Henry’s first two goals erased deficits, Borja put América ahead, and Henry’s third gave the team an additional cushion. The order of the goals provides information that does not appear in the list of scorers.
The hat trick within the season
Henry reached six goals in the Apertura, half of them coming in this match. It was his fourth hat trick in Liga MX, and he reached 108 goals in the competition, 103 of them with América. These are three distinct measures of his performance: immediate impact, how often he has achieved an individual feat, and his cumulative career total.
For Necaxa, the result extended its winless streak to eight rounds. The problem reflected in this match is clear: two leads did not turn into points. The sequence of goals supports that conclusion; attributing it to ineffective pressing, a tactical change, or specific errors would require analyzing the plays, not just the match report.
