Miguel Herrera is not worried.

His America team just dropped a friendly match against rival Pumas 3-0, but the 51-year-old is relaxed. He knows that when Las Aguilas meet Tigres on Sunday in the Campeon de Campeones, they’ll be a totally different team than the one that went winless in the preseason.

“What happens is you have the preseason to put the team together, but the players also take part in important tournament on the international level and you have to work them back in,” Herrera told Goal.

While Edson Alvarez joined the Mexico national team, America also had seven players head to Brazil to take part in Copa America. One, Renato Ibarra, was back after an early exit, but the majority of players - all of whom profile as starters - were still missing earlier this week.

For Herrera, though, their vacation is over. He has a match to win - a match that would book America’s spot in the Campeones Cup to face MLS Cup champion Atlanta United.

“Everyone is ready for Sunday,” he said, pointing that out the players who were with their national teams are in a good rhythm after taking part in other competitions.

That’s not entirely true, though. Agustin Marchesin, America’s No. 1 goalkeeper, didn’t play any minutes with Argentina at the tournament. Guido Rodriguez played in just one encounter. Herrera’s Colombians, Mateus Uribe and Roger Martinez, at least were more active with both seeing time in three contests. Still, fatigue shouldn’t be a concern, but knocking off the rust might be.

Which brings us to the question of Giovani dos Santos. The former starlet signed with America this summer after being released by the LA Galaxy before the MLS season started. Herrera said he’d wait until Saturday to decide whether or not Dos Santos is in good enough shape.

Tigres are facing the same challenge. Center back Carlos Salcedo and right back Luis “Chaka” Rodriguez helped Mexico lift the Gold Cup, while Enner Valencia, Guido Pizarro and Eduardo Vargas headed off to the Copa America.

Salcedo had a knee injury that has had him in and out of the lineup the last several months and with Francisco Meza undergoing surgery this week, the back line for Tigres may be vulnerable. Young defender Junajo Purata may be called upon to step in but knows it won’t be easy.

“We’re expecting a strong America,” he said this week. “We know of their potential, of their players and we should be ready to face the best America.”

They may or may not get that - it depends on how comfortable Herrera feels sending out his recent arrivals for a game with something at stake. After miserable preseason results, however, Herrera may not have much of a choice. The Liga MX Apertura begins just a week after Sunday’s festivities, and for Apertura champion America to face Clausura champion Tigres in a match with silverware again certainly brings back memories.

The two sides clashed in the final of the 2014 Apertura, the 2016 Apertura and the 2015-16 Concacaf Champions League. They easily have been two of the top teams in Mexico over the past five years. And they’ll each be among the favorites this tournament to once again make the final - Tigres defending their crown with few players leaving in the window and America manager Herrera saying when his internationals are involved, “I have one of the best squads in Mexico.”

Sunday will be his team’s first opportunity to prove it. Both sides are in some ways punished by their strong squads, which are more likely to be reliant on internationals. Even with so many players missing and a short turnaround from their arrival Wednesday to Sunday’s match, Herrera is calm. Tigres manager Tuca Ferretti is rarely rattled. Each coach goes in confident his team can get the job down.

After all, it’s the Campeon de Campeones game. What more marks a champion than the cool confidence that everything will work out just fine?