ESPN Digital presents five reasons why Tigres will be contesting the title of the tournament starting next Thursday in Qatar
CATAR – Tigres will try to make it to the final in the Club World Cup to make history in Mexican football as no team made it and below are the reasons why the felines could become the first team in Liga MX to to achieve this.
Millionaire transfers from 1996
They underwent a radical change after the company CEMEX took over the leadership of the team. When they descended to the First Division A in 1996, they took control of the team and bet to keep the squad they had to make the following year, which they eventually achieved.
The agreement between the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and Sinergia Deportiva, who is exactly in charge of the team, lasted 30 years and was extended for another three decades just a few months ago, something that has given solidity to the project and they are maintaining the dedication to having elements of a good standard that have now led the team to the Club World Cup in search of a place in the final where they will compete against Bayern Munich.
Several elements have passed through the team that have become idols such as Claudio ‘Diablo’ Núñez and Walter Gaitán, to name a few, but over the past decade the investments have paid off as the hired players have led them to prominence within Mexican football and now they want to do it internationally.
In recent times, the felines have hired players like 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 they have all been relevant to Tigres to get titles under the command of Ricardo Ferretti. Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac, who arrived as a free agent but with a salary vying for the most lucrative in national football, joins these elements.
The double “guarantees” success
The relationship between coach Ricardo Ferretti and Miguel Mejía Barón started a few decades ago and in the workplace on the Tigres it has paid off that the felines have made Mexican football’s team of the decade.
Miguel Mejía Barón led Ferretti in Pumas and convinced him to play one more season with the team and thus the capital’s squad was crowned in 1991, after which they went on their way separately and got the first chance to lead the Mexican team, with which he competed in the 1994 World Cup, while Ferretti started a career in Mexico that has been continuous so far.
2010 saw the Brazilian’s arrival in Tigres and it marked a change, proof of this being that it helped put an end to a 29-year drought with no titles in the Apertura 2011, but the arrival of Mejía Barón to the felines as an assistant to Ferretti “used” them to always fight championships, including four others from the MX League and other tournaments, including the Concacaf Champions League.
The project with Ricardo Ferretti and Miguel Mejía Barón has worked for Tigres and even Alejandro Rodríguez, president of the club, has stated that the helmsman’s wish is to continue for years to come, “he didn’t tell me he wants to retire, there there are few who can manage a team like Tigres, there is always a role missing, which we will give him soon. Tuca is going on, we want him to continue and he wants to continue. “
An example of continuity in football
“My team’s strong point is the balance between offense and defense. We are a team of very experienced players with great mental and technical capabilities; they can solve problems on the court when it often seems that it is not possible. My team is prepared and has a very important foundation for many years, ”said the engineer Ricardo Ferretti in an interview published in previous days by FIFA.com.
His squad continuity is one of the keys that can lead him to what no Mexican team has achieved in the Club World Cup, placing themselves in the final to fight for the title.
With Ferretti’s arrival in 2010, several elements were added to Tigres, including Hugo Ayala, who came to the team from the Atlas, and the youth team Jesús Dueñas, who have remained in the team ever since.
Although there has been a gradual renewal in the team, the quarterback has long sought to keep his players and for this reason there have been players who have been signed by the club for three years with the option of a fourth, regularly making effective
André-Pierre Gignac and Javier Aquino who joined the squad in 2015 and continues, Guido Pizarro who has been in the squad since 2013, although he was absent between 2017 and 2018 due to, among other things, playing in Europe, which could be key to how long they have been together to achieve a good result in the Club World Cup.
Clean and choppy after its first international title
Tigres shook off the crockery they carried on the bill in 2020 in anticipation of their first international title, after staying ashore several times.
Alejandro Rodríguez, president of the felines, stated last Tuesday, “In Concacaf we stayed on the coast three times, it hurt us a lot, but we insist that it is the DNA of those who learn more from failure than from success, in Tigres the path it follows always ascends. “
The felines remained a step away from the Concacaf Champions League championship three times after losing in the final against Águilas del América in 2016, in 2017 against Tuzos del Pachuca and in 2019 against the Rayados of Monterrey.
Added to this was the 2015 Copa Libertadores, in which they lost to Argentina’s River Plate in the final, but were crowned in the Concachampions in 2020 by beating LAFC and this even resulted in a reaction from Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac, who after a win the regional tournament declared “we finally won that pin … boys cup”, so now released from that pressure and with the mental boost they could make history for Mexican football.
The best team in its history
“This is the best Tigres in history, I had to have really good moments with great teammates, players, but this team has been the best in history for years, there are the titles, the finals, the leagues, hopefully the team continues to achieve success, ”said Claudio“ Diablo ”Núñez, one of the club leaders who has no qualms about recognizing that they are currently in the golden age.
Gignac is undoubtedly the head of the current squad and has already gone down in history as the club’s top scorer, scoring 144 since his arrival in 2015.
Hugo Ayala and Jesús Dueñas have won five league championships with the team, plus those in alternating tournaments, and Nahuel Guzmán is considered arguably the greatest goalkeeper to ever wear the club’s uniform, backed by his most significant performance in finals such as the Apertura 2015 against Pumas and that of the Apertura 2016 against America, the same in which he was the figure of sanctions.