A quick start and a gritty finish handed Tigres UANL a spot in the SuperLiga final with a 3-2 victory against Santos Laguna at Gillette Stadium.
Tigres scored twice inside the first 20 minutes through Jesus Molina and Francisco Fonseca in order to seize the initiative. Itamar Batista's 83rd-minute goal canceled out Carlos Quintero's 27th-minute goal to ensure Tigres would advance to face Chicago at Toyota Park on August 5.
Tigres manager Daniel Guzman said he was impressed with how his side came together in order to extinguish Santos' SuperLiga dreams.
"Of course I am very pleased that we have achieved our objective in this tournament," Guzman said. "We still are going to get to know each other much better in the weeks ahead, and the remaining games before the season, but I like the fact that in the dressing room, on the training field, and in the games -- whether friendly or competitive -- this group has already shown a togetherness and a great desire to win. And fortunately today, that earned us this triumph and a chance to play in the final."
Even with the quick start, Tigres had to overcome adversity when Argentinean schemer Lucas Lobos -- provider of the first two goals -- picked up his second yellow card with 20 minutes to play. Guzman said his nascent side did well to hold off the more cohesive Santos side in the final stages.
"This is a team that arrives having been together three years, has a lot of quality players, and I have to applaud the attitude we showed, with 10 players, to secure the victory," Guzman said.
Lobos said he was disappointed to collect his second yellow, a booking which now rules him out of the final through suspension. Despite his absence, Lobos said he is confidence his team can lift the SuperLiga crown.
"It's a shame, because I didn't really mean to grab the guy, but anyway ... it was a bit of a sad moment, but I'm sure the team, the way it's playing, can go on and play well in the final," Lobos said.
Guzman said that Tigres will miss Lobos in the final, but has to focus on its preparation without being distracted by his absence.
"That is going to be a very significant loss for our team, but we now have to forget about what happened in this game and go about preparing step by step for the friendly against Cruz Azul in Texas and for the final of this tournament -- something that I am very much looking forward to," Guzman said.
Santos manager Sergio Bueno could only look back at the match and wonder how his team hadn't secured its place in the final. Bueno said his side had more than enough chances to advance, but instead struggled to finish and committed errors that hurt them at the wrong times.
"We had six or seven good chances, but we weren't capable of finishing them," Bueno said. "I think the team had a few faults at both ends -- we suffered on defense with a few key lapses in concentration and today on the offensive end, our productivity was very low considering the number of opportunities we had."
Perhaps more of those opportunities would have found the back of the net had Mexican international striker Matias Vuoso been available to get on the end of them. Vuoso missed the match after a contract dispute with the club, but Bueno said he wouldn't point to Vuoso's absence as an explanation for the defeat.
"We cannot look to justify every result," Bueno said. "We had the players on the field capable of competing and winning this game, but I think this encounter was lost by us."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
