CARSON, Calif. - Through the group phase of InterLiga 2006, Tigres find themselves in a familiar position.
This year, Tigres won their group despite losing to Chivas and are one step away from reaching Copa Libertadores. In InterLiga 2005, Tigres followed the same path: they fell to Chivas but won the group regardless and reached the finals. Then, they beat Toluca 2-0 to secure a spot in South America's most storied club tournament.
Tigres proved last year with that win that the club was ready to meet the challenge and take on South America's best. This year, however, players acknowledged past results could only help so much.
"It will be difficult," Tigres captain Antonio Sancho said. "All the teams who qualify (for Sunday's finals) will want to take that last step to get into Libertadores. There won't be any easy games."
Tigres will face rivals Monterrey on Sunday. On Tuesday, Tigres won Group B with a pair of favorable results. First, Tigres smashed Cruz Azul 4-0 to take a temporary lead in the group table. Then, when Chivas tied Necaxa 1-1, Tigres remained atop the group for good as their six points bested Chivas' five.
This is anything but unfamiliar territory for the Monterrey-based club.
Last year, Tigres made a remarkable debut in Copa Libertadores. Tigres finished the group phase with a spotless 3-0-3 record and won Group 6 with 12 points over fellow newcomers Banfield of Argentina. In the round of 16, Tigres dispatched defending champion Once Caldas from the tournament with a 3-2 aggregate score before falling to eventual champions Sao Paulo in the quarterfinals.
With all that experience, Tigres would seem to have an edge over Monterrey despite falling to their bitter rivals in the Mexican league semifinals in December. In fact, Monterrey beat Tigres twice last season. Still, Monterrey's only recent international competition came in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, where the Rayados fell to eventual champions Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica in the semifinals.
But it is Tigres, not Monterrey, who have taken Copa Libertadores to Nuevo Leon. This year, the club returned with some of the swagger that comes with making noise in Copa Libertadores. Even though Tigres finished eighth overall in the Mexican league table last season, the club has looked and played the part of conquerors in InterLiga.
"We hope it helps us but we have new challenges now," Walter Gaitan said.
If anything, Tigres should be comforted by their attacking prowess. The club has scored 10 goals thus far and fixed their defensive problems with a shutout of Cruz Azul in the group stage finale. Still, the offense should carry Tigres from now on. Gaitan, the club's best attacking player over the past few years, has a standout complement now in Sebastian "Chamagol" Gonzalez. Gaitan, a native Argentinean, hooked up with Gonzalez on a nifty play that led to Tigres' third goal. Gaitan finished with two goals while Gonzalez also scored his first goal with Tigres.
Early on, the Gaitan-Gonzalez combination has clicked but stopping them could soon become an even more daunting task.
"The more we play as a group, the better we'll be," Sancho said.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to InterLiga.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the league or its clubs.
