Twoin a row...Atlasplayerscelebratewiththe trophy
WORLDSERVICE
WORLDSOCCER 81
AmericanandFrenchinternationals,
VenezuelanJefferson Soteldoand the
MexicansJesusAnguloandSebastian
Cordova–andtheircityneighbours
Monterrey,whohadsignedanother
Mexicaninternational,LuisRomo.
However, bothteams,andthe
othertwofavourites,AmericaandCruz
AzulfromMexicoCity, fell short in a
tournamentin whichtheindividual
talentofthe richerteamstooka back
seattoAtlas’teamworkandthe
intelligenceof theirmanagerDiego
Cocca.
Atnotimewas thatclearerthanin
thesemi-final,inwhichtheRojinegros
facedTigres,withtheirinternational
stars andtheircoach,theflamboyant
formerMexicomanagerMiguelHerrera.
Inthe first leg,Atlas,aware of the
offensivepoweroftheirrivals,beton
patience,andtookadvantageofthe
spacesleft forthecounter-attack.In a
displayof practicalityandpunch, they
tookanunexpected3-0leadwith goals
fromJulioFurch,LuisReyesandJulian
Quinones,which seemedtodefinethe
tie.
ButTigreswerenotdead,andinfront
of 42 ,500spectatorsatthe Estadio
Universitario,bothteamsstarredin the
craziest matchinMexicansoccerina
longtime.
After 45 minutes,itseemedthat
everythingwasdecided.Quinones
hadscoredagainforAtlasandthe
aggregatescorewasalready4-0. But
thenGignacarrived.TheFrenchman
showed that,at 36 yearsold,heisstill
thebestplayer in theLigaMXand with
a hat-trickin 20 minutes,hereturned
Tigrestothetie.WhenLichnovskymade
it4-1,itseemedtohavesealedthemost
incrediblecomebackinrecentmemory.
Then,withjustthreeminutesofadded
timeremainingandthe grandstand
celebratinginadvance,Atlascaptain
AldoRochawasknockeddowninthe
boxby Anguloand,after a reviewof
severalminutes,therefereedecided
toawardapenalty.
Whatfollowedwas farcical.Tigres’
goalkeeper, Nahuel Guzman,interrupted
thegamefor severalminutesbetween
tears andcomplaintstothereferee,and
wassentofffor puttingtwoballsonthe
pitchafter Rochascoredthewinning
goalfromthe penaltyspot.
Theworstpartis that noneofthis
reallymattered.Herrera,inhiseagerness
tocomebackfromthe deficit, had
forgotten theregulationsandbrought
innineforeignplayers,onemore
thantheauthorisedlimit,so,in practice,
thefinalresultwas2-0forAtlas.
After thedramaofthe semi-final,
thedecisive duel pittedtheRojinegros
againstPachuca,a teamwithgood
young players, ledbythe excellent
UruguayancoachGuillermoAlmada,
whohadfinishedinfirst placeinthe
regularseason.
However, Atlas’experiencewastoo
muchfor theTuzos. In thefirstleg,
despitebeingdominatedathomefora
goodpart of thematch,theRojinegros
tooka 2-0lead.Andin thesecondleg
theysurvivedaninitialonslaughtfrom
Pachuca,keepingtheircooldespite
beingdown2-1 in thefirsthalf, to keep
a cleansheetinthe secondandwin
theirsecondconsecutivechampionship.
Eventheirmostloyalfanswouldnot
havedreamedof seeingthislevel of
success,aftergrowingupseeingtheir
parents andgrandparentssuffer year
after year. Thecurse,it seems,has
undoubtedlynow beenlifted.
Infrontof42,500spectatorsattheEstadio
Universitario,bothteamsstarredinthecraziest
matchinMexicansoccerinalongtime
Chaotic...Tigres’
keeperNahuel
Guzman was
sentoffin the
semi-final
Semi-final
hat-trickhero...
Andre-Pierre
Gignac