They roar loudly. The Tigres UANL of Mexican soccer defeated Nashville of the MLS 1-0 to become the first finalists of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
In their stadium in Monterrey (northern Mexico), Argentine playmaker Juan Brunetta scored a great goal to give the Monterrey team the victory, who won the series 2-0 on aggregate.
The Tigers put pressure at the beginning of the game, but in the 14th minute they suffered the loss due to injury of Uruguayan midfielder Fernando Gorriarán, one of the team’s offensive spark plugs, from which the Americans advanced their lines and closed better.
Led by the German Hany Mukhtar, Nashville, who eliminated Lionel Messi’s Miami and Mexico’s América on a visit, created danger, although they lacked forcefulness against a disorganized local team.
The second half of the game began as it ended, with the visitors dominating, but the Mexicans recovered the ball and pushed the rival back.
In ’68, Tigres took advantage of their dominance. The Argentine world champion striker Ángel Correa put a ball to Brunetta, who with a right-footed shot beat goalkeeper Brian Schwake, establishing the 1-0.
The Nashville squad turned to the attack in search of goals to avoid elimination, but found an opponent well planted on defense.
In the grand final of the Concachampions, to be played on May 30, Tigres UANL will face the winner of the series between the Mexican Toluca and Los Angeles FC of the MLS, who play this Wednesday in Toluca.
This is how they aligned
– Tigres UANL (1): Nahuel Guzmán; Francisco Reyes, Jesús Angulo, Rómulo, Jesús Garza; César Araújo, Fernando Gorriarán (Juan Pablo Vigón m.14), Marcelo Flores (Diego Sánchez m.46), Ángel Correa, Juan Brunetta (Rafael Guerrero m.82); Rodrigo Aguirre (Diego Lainez m.64).
– Coach: Guido Pizarro.
–Nashville (0): Brian Schwake; Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios, Reed Baker-Whiting, Andy Nájar (Daniel Lovitz m.78); Matthew Corcoran, Bryan Acosta (Shal Mohammed m.69), Alex Muyl (Woobens Pacius m.58), Cristian Espinoza; Warren Madrigal (Ahmed Qasem m.69), Hany Mukhtar.
– Coach: BJ Callaghan.
– Goal: 1-0, m.68: Juan Brunetta.
– Referee: Mario Escobar, from Guatemala. He admonished Angulo, Madrigal and Palacios.
– Incidents: Second leg of the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup held at the Estadio Universitario in Monterrey, northern Mexico.
