Rogelio Funes Mori got injured at the end of August and, once recovered, has been used as a substitute by coach Víctor Vucetich
The coach of Monterrey, Víctor Manuel Vucetich, highlighted Rogelio Funes Mori's performance in the quarterfinals of the Apertura 2022 and said they can't consider starting him yet because he is gradually recovering from his injury and they don't want to rush things.
"Funes Mori had been out for a long time without playing, gradually he is coping with the rhythm to have more playing time, we can't rush it because it's not good for us," he said after the second leg of the quarterfinals, in which they beat Cruz Azul 3-0.
Rogelio Funes Mori had an injury that kept him out for a long time during the current season, he recovered and has already had minutes in the quarterfinals, but he has been used as a substitute and in today's match, he stood out by contributing a goal.
Vucetich said that now they must cautiously take the victory they achieved against Cruz Azul and try to correct the mistakes they made for the semifinals of the current competition, for which they are awaiting their opponent.
Raúl "Potro" Gutiérrez, coach of Cruz Azul, considered that his team lacked scoring efficiency against Monterrey and that now, after the elimination, he will talk to the board to know his future in the team, where he would like to continue.
"These kinds of matches are decided by the moments, taking advantage of the chances you have to score, unfortunately we weren't accurate, we had five goal opportunities that we didn't convert, we had the first one and that would have conditioned the match, we can't be happy, but the team gave their all against a great rival with a finishing touch that was seen in the last three minutes when they scored two goals.
"We are going to talk to our board, we are taking it step by step, we will discuss the possibility of continuity calmly, in that regard, I am calm about the work shown, I am calm because the team continued to show a different side, that is the responsibility of my players, they gave their all, we could have had a regular, good or bad game, but they gave their all, we had chances to equalize and turn it around, but we didn't score," he said.
Raúl Gutiérrez said that Cruz Azul must work with both national and foreign players, as well as academy players, that is a good formula and he remembered his work with young players in the Mexican national team.
"In the end, I think every coach has their own path, that duality gives me an advantage of not being the typical coach who sticks with a certain type of player, a team like Cruz Azul needs that reinforcement in young players, a big team like Cruz Azul should have 33% of quality national players, 33% foreigners and 33% academy players, they told me that was my team (the U-17), we reached five finals and that is the cross I have to bear," he concluded.