The U. So they say to Tigres, the team from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. And it is the U: the only Mexican representative who could get into a Club World Cup final. Historical is little for the felines, who beat Palmeiras very well in the first semi of the intercontinental tournament and will go for more, for being a legend. The Verdao who eliminated River in the Libertadores with just enough and who won the Cup in the last one was left with a taste of nothing again. The penalty goal was André-Pierre Gignac, the great figure of those led by Tuca Ferretti and who has been breaking it in Qatar (three shouts in two games). Nahuel Guzmán and Guido Pizarro (captain) they are part of a very real dream. And let Bayern Munich take revenge …
Necaxa, back in 2000, in the first test of a tournament between the champions of each Confederation, was third. The same happened to Rayados de Monterrey in 2012 and 2019, and to Pachuca in 2017. It was a kind of wall, or a wall, to make it even more special. And Tigres broke it. The Nuevo León team achieved something unprecedented through a good plan of his DT and better execution of the players, Among which there are two Argentines: el Patón and el Conde. The archer took out a key and then he appealed to all his experience. The steering wheel and captain was the clock in the middle, managing times and moments. And nothing less than against a Brazilian rival, with what that means.
To get into the semi, Tigres had to leave the South Korean Ulsan Hyundai on the road in a kind of quarter-finals: it was 2-1 with a double from the French. Palmeiras, on the other hand, started directly from this phase. Advantage? Not at all. Ferretti, old wise man of this game, raised a perfect match. He stopped his own a step forward, with Carlos González more pointed, Gignac free, two flyers outside (Quinones and Aquino) and two to control the center (Pizarro and Rafael Carioca). With four defenders he completed a blackboard drawing with 4-4-2, but that mutated many times, as when Dueñas joined in attack from the left and Quiñones moved to the center. The same on the other side, with the attacks and centers of Chaka Rodríguez, precisely, a shipment from the side woke everyone up: there Weverton made a great save before a header from Paraguayan González. But it was a warning.
The Mexicans dominated the game from possession, something that characterizes them in Liga MX, although many times they sin from having the ball and not hurting. This time, at Education City Stadium, Tigres was more ambitious from the start. However, he found a Weverton who took everything out in the PT: in addition to the header to González, he denied Gignac two. Eye, Guzmán also appeared at that stage, deflecting a shot from Rony. Those 45 ‘left a better image than those in yellow and a spicy cross between AP10 and Abel Ferreira, the Verdao coach who idolizes Gallardo.
The combo on the left that Ferretti stopped with Dueñas, Quiñones and Gignac -when he was shooting for that sector- complicated the climbs of Menino, who cared more about helping Rocha on the mark than attacking. For this reason, Palmeiras left the ball to Tigres and stood against Rony and Luiz Adriano. It didn’t work. So far behind was the Verdao, that Luan took González in the area and Gignac did not forgive: penalty, goal and oh là là. André-Pierre, as usual, is the hero and the cover. The scream and the class. The scorer who at some point sought Boca …
After 1-0, Tigres continued betting on defending themselves with possession and that was their best weapon. At the end, with changes in the two banks, Palmeiras went for the tie and had only one, where Chaka Rodríguez almost put it against him. But not even that. Luck vs. River and vs. Santos is over.
The lament of Palmeiras.
For Tigres it’s all party. Qualified by winning their first Concacaf Champions (El Patón was key by scoring a heroic goal in the second round) and traveled to Qatar to continue biting. He fulfilled in quarters and was planted in the semis. And now he goes for more: Bayern Munich vs. Al-Ahly, who play on Monday. The U, of one more.
