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Continuity! This is the word that best defines Palmeiras’ rival in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup. Tigres, from the city of Monterrey in northeastern Mexico, has no less than nine of the 11 potential starters against Verdão playing for at least three years at the club. A team with a well-defined football proposal. Check out!
Left-back Jesús Dueñas and defender Hugo Ayla are the longest-lived, 12 and 11 years respectively as professionals and, during most seasons, Tigres starters. It is a club that is financially stabilized and has an administration that allows it to always fight for the main national titles, in addition to reaching the acute stages of the Concachampions, the “Libertadores” of Central America and the Caribbean. Reyes and Leonardo Fernández are the likely headlines in the club’s most recent history.
In December, the Felines beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1, in a comeback, and conquered the continent for the first time. The cup came after three runners-up (2019, 2017 and 2016). The club’s national hegemony has been broad over the past decade. Five of the seven Mexican titles in Tigres history were won in the period. He also won a Mexican Cup and three Campeón de Campeones trophies.
Coach
Tuca Ferretti leads the Tigres team
Image: Azael Rodríguez / Getty Images
All of the recent accomplishments listed above had the signature of a true icon in Mexican soccer history. Brazilian Ricardo “Tuca” Ferreti has been the Auriazules commander since mid-2009. He has been in charge of the team for 12 years, the same number of trophies won for the Tigres gallery.
The professional lived 44 of his 66 years on Mexican soil and became a natural. He is the brother of the famous forward Ferreti, who played for Botafogo and the Brazilian national team in the late sixties. Tuca himself was also an athlete. It started in Glorioso and then went through Bonsucesso, CRB and CSA, before going to Mexico.
He began his coaching career in the 1990s at Pumas, a club that also has a strong identification. Then he commanded Chivas, Morelia and Toluca until he reached Tigres. He coached the Mexican national team as an interim player in nine games. It is a true entity in local football.
The team
Until the Club Club semi-final, Ferreti had been riding Tigres in a 4-4-2, the scheme he used the most in his club years. He always likes to play with a forward striker, the Frenchman Gignac, and a forward with more mobility, who can be the Uruguayan Leonardo Fernández or the Paraguayan Carlos González, the latter less fast, but who comes out more than Gignac.
Open, sharp and fast acting socks, usually Aquino and Luis Quiñones, and flyers with organizational skills: Rafael Carioca and Guido Pizarro. Guzmán owns the goal. Hugo Ayala and Salcedo formed the defending duo, but Reyes recovered space and can start again as in the semifinals. Ayala would go. And the wings are occupied by Luis Rodríguez and Jesús Dueñas, original midfielder.
Tigres home team
Image: Rodrigo Coutinho
The craque
Highlighted since he arrived, André-Pierre Gignac has 247 appearances for the club and 146 goals scored. Average of one goal every two games. He became one of the idols and top scorer in Tigers history in just six seasons. It is a “colossus” within the area. He finishes very well, is physically imposing, solves fast plays and positions himself perfectly. The Palmeirense defense will need a lot of attention to mark it.
Gignac celebrates one of the many goals he has scored for Tigres
Image: Getty Images
When you need to get out of the area, Gignac also participates. He knows how to do pivot work, he prepares well for his teammates’ plays with a precise ‘last pass’, despite not being fast and not having as much mobility in larger spaces. Another striking feature of his game is the accuracy of the free throws and the short distance. He had not played before the Club World Cup due to a muscle injury.
Figurine known from outside
Who could reappear before the eyes of the Brazilian fan is forward Nico López, former International. The player, however, tested positive for Covid-19 before the trip to the Club World Cup and was kept out of the competition. Nico probably wouldn’t be the starter of the team, but he is constantly being used to get into the second stage. Another who was out of action for the same reason is the left-back Venegas, plus a substitute.
How it attacks
Having the ball is the main objective of Tigres in basically every game. It is not a team that closes and seeks counterattacks as the predominant idea. Try to progress on the field by approaching and exchanging short passes between the athletes, starting with goalkeeper Guzmán, who fits good passes at the exit of the ball by driving shuttlecocks or wings.
The first moment of construction is almost always done with a line of four behind the defenders and the sides. The proposal is to reach the attack field from the wings, generating triangulations between wings, wingers and one more player who approaches the sector, usually one of the defensive midfielders.
Rafael Carioca and Guido Pizarro manage the rhythm of the plays and alternate the side that the team advances with competition. Socks are always wide open. Aquino, right-handed to the left. And Quiñones, left-handed to the right. ” Open ” the field to generate this passing line and space the opponent’s defense. They have the approach of the side of the sector and the closest steering wheel in a second moment to produce the triangulations.
Example of triangulation on the side, something very common when attacking Tigers
Image: Rodrigo Coutinho
The proposal is to win the bottom line or fire Leonardo Fernández and Gignac near the area. When they reach the first goal, the Frenchman is a constant target and scores many goals in this way. When looking for the ‘last pass’ through the center, Leonardo Fernández ends up oscillating more in efficiency. He kicks well from medium distance, he is skilled and intelligent, but he sins due to irregularity.
When they face rivals who advance the mark with “grip” and organization, Tigres tend to suffer a little more. This is because the movement of the ball in the first row is slow. The direct link to Gignac ends up being the option, but more movement is needed to win the ‘second ball’ after the long pass. As much as they have a good pass, the defenders do not have such reliable full-backs at the moment, mainly Dueñas.
The left-back is experienced and leader of the squad, but does not cope well when pressured and induced to play with his left leg. He is right-handed and a training midfielder. That is why he enters quite diagonally towards the center when the opponent scores further back, and then approaches Aquino to triangulate from the left.
Dueñas more focused and Aquino wide open on the left. A constant of Tigers when the opponent scores further back
Image: Rodrigo Coutinho
As organized as he is and with ideas developed for different scenarios, Tigers lacks a bit more intensity in attack. Luis Quiñones and Aquino always pick up the pace, but decision-making in short spaces is not so good, especially with the Colombian on the right. The 23 jersey is also very active in counterattacks. It has strength and speed.
How he defends
The marking system is zonal, when each player protects their space on the field, without promoting activities outside the domestic sector. The intensity of the focus is uneven. In defensive transitions he usually responds very well. He presses hard after losing the ball and suffers little from rival counterattacks, often regaining possession on the attacking court.
Already in the defensive phase the team does not press the ball with so much grip at various times. They are back at 4-4-2 and have two points that Palmeiras can take advantage of.
On the right, Luis Quiñones many times wrongly closes the midfield line, allowing passing lanes and space for the rival left-back in the sector, Viña can benefit. On the left, Dueñas is well positioned, but he has problems when he needs to “deviate” a bit from the line to press the ball, he is heavy, and Gabriel Menino must take advantage.
Balls Stopped
Organization of the tigers scoring in the corners in detail
Image: Rodrigo Coutinho
In the defensive corners, the Tigers score with zone dominance. There are six athletes who defend specific zones within the area and another two who work on the blocks at predetermined goals, usually the strongest men in the opponent’s passing game. Dueñas and Aquino must be responsible for hindering the movement of Luan and Gustavo Gómez.
At the edge of the small area, a line of four players. Gignac, Rafael Carioca, Ayala (or Reyes) and Salcedo scoring by zone. Guido Pizarro and Luis Rodríguez protect the near post. Leonardo Fernández and Luis Quiñones are the men of the rebound. In the dead ball offense, Ayala and Gignac are the main targets of Leonardo Fernández’s charges. They both have excellent aerial ball use.
