ESPN Digital presents five reasons why Tigres will contest the title of the tournament that starts on Thursday in Qatar
CATAR – Tigres will seek in the Club World Cup to reach the final to make history in Mexican football, because no team has succeeded and below are the reasons why the cats could become the first team in the MX League to reach it .
Million transfers since 1996
They had a radical change after CEMEX took over the leadership of the team. When they were relegated to the First Division A in 1996, they absorbed control of the team and bet to keep the team they were to promote to the following year, which they eventually achieved.
The agreement between the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and Sinergia Deportiva, which deals with team precision, lasted 30 years and was renewed only a few months ago for another three decades, which solidified the project and I maintain their commitment to to have elements of a good level, which now led the team to the Club World Cup in search of a place in the final, in which they can face Bayern Munich.
Various elements have passed through the team that have become idols such as Claudio “Diablo” Núñez and Walter Gaitán, just to name a few, but in the last decade investments have paid off for the club, as hired players have guided Mexican football to prominence and are now looking to do it internationally.
Lately, the cats have hired players such as Carlos Salcedo ($ 10.6 million), Guido Pizarro (10.48) Nicolás López (about 10 million), Jürgen Damm (9 million), Andy Delort (9.4 million), Eduardo Vargas (7 million), Javier Aquino (about 5.5 million), Enner Valencia (6 million) and all were relevant for Tigres to win titles under Ricardo Ferretti. The Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac, who arrived as a free player, but with a salary that competes for the most profitable in national football, joins these elements.
Double that “guarantees” success
The relationship between coach Ricardo Ferretti and Miguel Mejía Barón emerged a few decades ago, and at work at Tigres it bore fruit that made the feline team of the decade of Mexican football.
Miguel Mejía Barón led Ferretti in Pumas and convinced him to play with the team for another season and so, in 1991, the capital team was crowned, then they continued their separate journey, and the former had the opportunity to lead the Mexican team, with whom he has been in the 1994 World Cup, while Ferretti began a career in Mexico that has so far been continuous.
In 2010, the Brazilian’s arrival at the Tigres took place and represented a change, as evidenced by the fact that in the 2011 Apertura it helped him put an end to a drought of 29 years without titles, to always fight championships, including four more in the MX League and other tournaments, including the CONCACAF Champions League.
The project with Ricardo Ferretti and Miguel Mejía Barón worked for Tigres and even Alejandro Rodríguez, the club’s president, said that the desire is for the helmsman to continue for several years, “he did not tell me that he wants to retire, there are few who can he leads a team like Tigres, he always lacks a role, which we will offer soon. Tuca will continue, we want to continue and he wants to continue. “
An example of continuity in football
“The strength of my team is the balance between offense and defense. We are a team with very experienced players, with a lot of mental and technical ability; they can solve problems on the field when it often seems impossible. My team is ready and has a very important basis for many years “, said in the previous days the technician Ricardo Ferretti in an interview published by FIFA.com.
The continuity of his team is one of the keys that can guide him to what no Mexican team has achieved in the Club World Cup, placing in the final to fight for the title.
When Ferretti arrived in 2010, various elements were added to the Tigers, including Hugo Ayala, who came to the Atlas team, and the Jesús Dueñas youth team, who has remained on the team ever since.
Although there was a gradual renewal in the team, the strategist tried to keep his players for a long time and for this reason there were players who were signed by the club for three years with the option of a fourth, who regularly became more efficient.
André-Pierre Gignac and Javier Aquino who joined the team in 2015 and continues, Guido Pizarro who has been in the team since 2013, although he was absent between 2017 and 2018 due to the game in Europe, among others, which can be essential as time together to get a good result in the Club World Cup.
Clean and torn after his first international title
In 2020, the Tigers shook the tableware they were carrying in their account, waiting to obtain their first international title, after remaining on the shore on various occasions.
Alejandro Rodríguez, the president of the cats, said last Tuesday “at Concacaf we stayed on the shore three times, it hurt a lot but we continue to insist, it is the DNA of those who learn more from failure than success, in Tigres the way that following it is always ascending “.
The Cats have been one step away from the Concacaf Champions League on three occasions, after losing in the final against Águilas del América in 2016, in 2017 they lost against Tuzos del Pachuca and in 2019 against Rayados from Monterrey.
To this was added the Copa Libertadores in 2015, in which they lost in the final against River Plate in Argentina, but in 2020 they were crowned in the Concachampions defeating LAFC and this even generated a reaction from the Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac, who after won the regional tournament said “I finally won that cup … cup boys”, so now released from that pressure and mentally impelled they were able to make history for Mexican football.
The best team in its history
“This is the best Tigers in history, I had to live very good moments with great teammates, players, but this team for years was the best in history, there are titles, finals, leagues, we hope that the Team continues to be successful, “said Claudio ‘Diablo’ Núñez, one of the club’s leaders who has no hesitation in acknowledging that they are currently in the golden age.
Gignac is, without a doubt, the head of the current team and has already gone down in history as the club’s top scorer, with whom he has scored 144 since arriving in 2015.
Hugo Ayala and Jesús Dueñas have won five league championships with the team, plus those in alternate tournaments, and Nahuel Guzmán is considered probably the best goalkeeper to wear the club’s uniform, supported by his key performances in the finals, such as the 2015 Apertura against Pumas and that of the 2016 Apertura against America, the same one in which he was the figure of the penalties.