tigers he joined to Monterey and America as the third guest at semifinals of the Clausura 2023 tournament of the MX League by eliminating Toluca by an aggregate score of 5-4, in a series full of somersaults in which the Monterrey team managed to overcome with a goal that was worth gold in the last 20 minutes of the tie, held at the home of the Red Devils.
The cats entered the second leg on Sunday at noon with a large three-goal lead after having thrashed 4-1 on Thursday night at their home stadium, the Universitario de San Nicolás de los Garza, but they found themselves besieged from very early on. by the local team and that margin in their favor began to drastically reduce.
Ignacio Ambriz, technical director of Toluca, decided to reform his tactical drawing in search of those three goals that would give him a pass to the semifinals, remembering that, due to their better position in the regular season table (thirds), it was enough for the Devils with tying the overall score to win the series and get into the prelude to the fight for the title.
Iván ‘Gacelo’ López was the great novelty in the stand of ‘Nacho’ Ambriz, forming two lines of four between the defense and the midfield so that ‘Gacelo’ and Carlos González formed the attack, remembering that this duo gave him almost the 33% of the regular season goals to the Red Devils (11 of 34).
The bet on the ‘Gacelo’ paid off after 26 minutes, when the young Mexican striker took advantage of a series of rebounds on the edge of the crescent to hit Nahuel Guzmán’s goal. A deflection by defender Jesús Angulo changed the trajectory of the ball and it embedded itself, beating the goalkeeper from Monterrey. The Toluca fans exploded with emotion but the advantage continued to favor Tigres.
The people from Monterrey did not show that possession of the ball that characterized them in the first leg in their territory; now, not even Diego Lainez, Sebastián Córdova or André-Pierre Gignac himself had the necessary control or confidence to attack the scarlet goal defended by Tiago Volpi.
Under this narrative, Toluca continued to insist and found its reward before going to the halftime break, since a ball fought on the edge of the goal line by Carlos González ended in a cross that Marcel Ruiz defined to put the 2 -0, which on aggregate was already 4-3 with more and more nervousness for Tigres.
For the second half, those from Nuevo León reacted and had more possession, generating a couple of shots without much risk against goalkeeper Volpi. But once again they received a mental blow when Volpi launched a goal kick with great power that Carlos González deflected and which ‘Gacelo’ López pushed into the net. Three touches and three goals for Toluca. The series had already escaped Tigres.
Then came a turning point for the comeback that the Red Devils were achieving: their main figure, ‘Gacelo’ López, had to leave the field due to injury and then Ignacio Ambriz decided to bring on Jorge Torres Nilo to form a line of three defenders power stations when there were still more than 20 minutes to finish the series.
Tigres knew that he needed a goal in that period to recover the ticket to the semifinals and he began to look for it with the income of Nicolás López and Luis Quiñones. They had not been very successful, until midfielder Juan Pabló Vigón opened the door with a wall with André-Pierre Gignac that ended with a cross finished off by Sebastián Córdova before the silence of the Nemesio Diez stadium.
Córdova’s 3-1 win brought joy back to Tigres and their coach, Robert Dante Siboldi, because the aggregate was back in their favor with 5-4. There were 19 minutes left in regular time plus seven added time to contain Toluca’s onslaught and return to the semifinals, a phase that the Monterrey had not experienced for a year, when they were eliminated by Atlas.
Toluca insisted and modified. Ambriz brought on two foreign attackers who were in duty with the squad this semester, Leo Fernández and Camilo Sanvezzo, but as in their performance during the regular season, they did not generate dangerous plays and stalled their team’s attack. The clock reached its limit and the Devils, who were runners-up last semester, now had to say goodbye in the quarterfinals.
“I believe (that the series) is not lost here, but in the last game. We gave away many goals, from what I saw of the match process the result was very bulky, we continue to make mistakes but it is not from now, the tournament was like that, I never had the chance to correct it. I have always accepted my responsibility, I am the person in charge, I love that the team comes out playing, to propose the football part, but in the defensive part we have been left with a lot of duty ”, analyzed Ignacio Ambriz after the elimination of his Diablos.
With this result, Tigres threw Toluca out of the league for the sixth time in the same number of times they have faced each other, a martyrdom that began for the Mexican institution since 2003 and that they have not been able to resolve until now.
While the cats wait for Rayados or América for the semifinal crossing, the Red Devils will break ranks and will remain awaiting the expectations of the board, since once they failed to meet the goal of the championship and they already have a 13-year drought, the third longest within the teams that have already won the MX League at least once, only behind Puebla (33 years) and Necaxa (25).
“In numbers in the last year I can say that we are doing well, but not in results, because my commitment to the institution was to be able to give it a title. The coaches depend on the results and today if the board wants to step aside, nothing happens, I’m not scared ”, concluded Ambriz, who became the technical director of Toluca from the Clausura 2022 tournament.
