The first leg of la Gran Final of the CONCACAF Champions League saw two Mexican giants face-off against each other for the right to represent the CONCACAF in the 2016 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup. This year, we are assured that a Mexican club will be the representative of the CONCACAF for the 11th straight year.
In what is a rematch of the 2014 Apertura Championship, Tigres is facing off against Club América. Unfortunately for Tigres, it looks as if the same fate is about to befall them in this competition as they did in 2014 when they lost the title to América.
In this two-legged final, América made their way to San Nicolás de los Garza to face Tigres in El Volcán, which has a reputation for being one of Mexico’s loudest. The first half started off sluggish for both teams as they were feeling each other out in the beginning stages of the match.
América was certainly the most dominant physically, dominating Tigres as they tried to make their way up the pitch. Oddly enough, Tigres was the team that held most of the possession in the first half, with most of the action taking place in the América side of the pitch. But, at the half, no team had anything to show and they went to the locker rooms scoreless.
That all changed in the second half, as América wasted no time in scoring the game’s first goal courtesy of Darío Benedetto. In the 49th minute, a nice aerial pass from Osvaldo Martínez found a streaking Darío Benedetto, who battled with a defender beating him as he headed in the game’s first goal.
Club America take a 1-0 lead in the 1st leg of the #CCL final as Dario Benedetto heads home at the far post. https://t.co/ItIMCqqOWC
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) 21 de abril de 2016
And what would a CONCACAF game be without the obligatory controversy? In the 57th minute América’s Andrés Andrade scored what seemed to be a fantastic goal from long range, catching Tigres keeper Nahuel Guzmán attempting a Manuel Neuer-style coming off his line. However, the linesman ruled him offside and called back the goal, but replays showed that Andrade and Oribe Peralta (who fed him a sublime through pass) were on their side of the pitch, therefore an offside call could not have been called.
However, América kept on pressing on, tiring out the Tigres defenders as they lost energy throughout the game. And just when Tigres thought they were only going to Mexico City with a goal disadvantage, Osvaldo Martínez scored a golazo from way outside the box for the 2-0.
FT: Tigres 0, Club America 2. Osvaldo Martinez’s late goal gives defending #CCL champs a big lead for the 2nd leg. https://t.co/P93TPCofcj
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) 21 de abril de 2016
With that, Club América takes a two goal advantage into Estadio Azteca next week as they try and win their seventh CONCACAF Champions League in team history. Important to note that the away goal rule is in effect, so these two goals Amé scored are even more valuable going into the second leg.
Tigres, on the other hand, really needs to have a better showing in the Mexican capital if they want to avoid a repeat of history and watch América lift a title in their stadium, much like they did in 2014.
