Small revenge for Tigres in the match against Chivas
Tigres from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) had a small revenge this Sunday, after avoiding Chivas from Guadalajara to make the triplet by defeating them 1-0 to win the Champion of Champions 2017 title.
A solitary goal by Chilean forward Eduardo Vargas, in the 61st minute, was the difference in the match, where the northern team took home the trophy at StubHub Center, in a match where the regios were superior and the victory could have been more overwhelming.
One week before the start of the 2017 Apertura Tournament of the Mexican League (Liga MX), this Champion of Champions match looked like a good appetizer, featuring the last two champions and two finalists of Mexican soccer. Chivas was seeking the triplet and Tigres wanted to heal a little bit of that wound from the recent final they disputed.
Despite the notable absences in both teams, the coaches showed their knowledge of the squads to prevent those absences from being noticed, most of them due to the Mexican national team's participation in the Gold Cup.
Tigres missed Luis Rodríguez, Hugo Ayala, and especially their recovery midfielders Jesús Dueñas and Guido Pizarro, the latter already playing for Sevilla.
Meanwhile, in the so-called "Rebaño Sagrado" (Sacred Herd), Jair Pereira, Rodolfo Pizarro, Orbelín Pineda, Hedgardo Marín and the injured Alan Pulido and Isaac Brizuela were not present.
Both teams, according to their arguments, tried to harm the other, but the rhythm was set by Tigres, who came out more offensive from their starting 11, while Chivas played more cautiously, aware of their opponent's potential.
Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac had the clearest opportunities of the match in the first half, but in his three shots, he found the recently named Best Goalkeeper of the Clausura 2017, Rodolfo Cota, who dazzled with a feint claiming offside to make a great save in a one-on-one against the Frenchman, who reached 100 matches with Tigres.
In addition to suffering the northern team's attacks, the draw became more expensive for Guadalajara, as Argentine coach Matías Almeyda was forced to make two substitutions due to injury, with Alanís and "Gallito" Vázquez coming off to even make the young Fernando Beltrán make his debut.
In the second half, Guadalajara rearranged its pieces to begin to approach Nahuel Guzmán's goal, although without much clarity, while Tigres responded with a shot off the post by Chilean Eduardo Vargas.
Moments later, it was Vargas himself who took revenge to put the 1-0 in favor of the regiomontano team, when the ball fell to Gignac in a throw-in, who left it to Vargas inside the box to shoot without problems.
The match opened up and the UANL team showed more danger, closer to a second goal than to conceding an equalizer, while the youth of some Chivas players started to show.
Chivas threw themselves forward in the final moments of the match with the illusion of equalizing and made Tigres suffer with set pieces, one of the rojiblanco team's weapons to achieve the goal due to the lack of experienced players up front, but Beltrán and José Macías seemed to have been in the First Division for a longer time.
Tigres held on to the lead and had its slight revenge, as after losing the Liga MX a few months ago, they left Chivas wanting the triplet after winning the Liga and Copa MX in the Clausura 2017.
The referee of the match was Óscar Macías, who fulfilled his duty and booked Tigres' Jürgen Damm, Ismael Sosa, Jorge Torres Nilo, Juninho, and Damián Álvarez, as well as Chivas' Ángel Saldívar.