Tigres over Pachuca in Liga MX Exhibition

The Liga MX brought the Club de Fútbol Pachuca (Pachuca) and the Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Tigres UANL) to Central Texas as part of their preseason exhibition.  The Liga MX is the peer of Major League Soccer and the match was a glimpse of what’s expected if the Columbus Crew and the City of Austin agree to terms.   

Pachuca is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, being founded in 1901.  The Tigres are a relative upstart, starting play in 1960.  The quality of play matched their pedigrees. 

The 7300 hundred fans at Dell Diamond were treated to well-planned and tightly executed soccer that was full of strong defense and opportunistic scoring.  And the colorfully attired fans were part of the performance, bringing lots of noise, rehearsed cheers and a traveling drum line.  

The Tigres offense, spearheaded by the breakaway sprints of midfielder Jurgen Damm, dominated the first half of play.  But the Pachuca defense, led by the play of goalkeeper Alfonso Blanco, did not yield and resulted in a scoreless first half.  

The halftime pep talk by Pachuca head coach Pako Ayestarán saw a different team reenter the team.  The Pachuca offense pressed hard and rarely let the Tigres escape from their territory.  However, it was surgical strikes by the Tigres that produced the only scoring of the match.  

 Enner Valencia of the Tigres scored the first goal at the 50-minute mark, assisted by Jurgen Damm.  And Damian Torres added an insurance goal in the 80th minute, with an assist by Lucas Zelarayan.  

Final score was Tigres UANL 2, Pachuca 0.