Santos Laguna 0 :1 Tigres UANL

Visitors take advantage into second leg of Mexican final

by Mario Prieto

An early goal and a red card shown to Juan Pablo Rodriguez meant visiting Tigres can enjoy a comfortable evening on the road.

TIGER (TIGRE) DEFINITION : Is a solitary feline cat – someone fierce, determined, or ambitious that despite his wounds, he stills fights like a TIGER, and that’s is exactly what Tigres of UANL did in Torreon.

An early goal in the seventh minute from Damian Alvarez gave Tigres UANL a 1-0 win over Santos Laguna in the first leg of their Mexican Apertura playoff final series.

Tigres played with a man advantage for most of the game after Santos’ Juan Pablo Rodriguez was sent off midway through the first half, and now has a clear advantage heading into Sunday evening’s second leg, set for Tigres’ Estadio Universitario.

Santos manager Benjamin Galindo was forced to make one change from the side that overcame Morelia in the semifinals, with influential playmaker Daniel Ludueña missing out after leaving last weekend’s game early with an injury, leaving Jaime Cardenas to take his place.

Tigres manager Tuca Ferretti went with the successful line up from his team’s semifinal, naming an unchanged 11 from the one that edged out Queretaro.

Santos looked to test the visitors with their superior pace early on and Carlos Darwin Quintero had an effort deflected behind for a corner by Juninho, following a breakaway by the Colombian forward.

However, Tigres were methodical in their buildup, and they did well to keep the ball and find the opener. Hector Mancilla filtered a ball through to Alvarez, who fooled adefender and opened up space for a left footed shot that bounced in off the post to give Tigres an early lead.

While both teams stuck to their game plans, Tigres nearly surprised Santos with a second goal as Carlos Salcido found a lot of space from which to fire at goal, only for Oswaldo Sanchez to get down well and turn it around. Tigres themselves had to be on their toes, though, as Oribe Peralta smashed an effort against the crossbar minutes later.

It proved to be a back-and-forth affair, with Tigres registering the next scoring chance as Lucas Lobos’ backheel opened up space for Alvarez, only for the Argentine to fire wide.

Santos’ task was made much harder when Rodriguez, one of the team’s most experienced players, was shown a straight red card for leaving his foot raised after a clearance, catching Manuel Viniegra square in the groin with his cleats.

With Rodriguez off the field, it took a lot of the wind out of Santos’ sails, and Tigres were content to let Santos chase the game. Sanchez had to be continually on alert, as Tigres continued to test him from distance, but the veteran goalkeeper held firm.

The home side had a great chance to equalize on the stroke of halftime as Christian Suarez slid a ball through to the outstretched Quintero, who got a toe on it, but couldn’t direct it home from close range.

Tigres provided very few opportunities for Santos to get forward during the early stages of the first half, though created very few chances themselves, either. The closest the visitors came to extending their lead before the hour mark came when  Mancilla forced Sanchez to spill a cross, only for the defense to clear quickly.

Santos didn’t help their case by frequently giving the ball away, with the numerical disadvantage contributing to fatigue, though Galindo helped alleviate this by using his substitutes early in the second half. Tigres continued to threaten more, patiently waiting to draw Santos out of position, though never enough to strike for a second.

Santos had one last clear chance five minutes from time as Jaime Cardenas put a teasing ball across the middle, but it was just out of the reach of Peralta, going behind for a goal kick.

While Santos still has the unenviable task of overturning a one goal deficit on the road in Sunday’s decider, it will not have to worry about Tigres’ higher seed in case of an aggregate draw, meaning a one goal win would be enough to take the series to extra time, and if necessary, penalties.

After 90 minutes of play in the first leg of the Mexican final games, it was clear that Tigres are not yet the only feline on the field with determination and ambitious to win the Cup.