Al Ain: Pachuca’s bid to become the first Mexican side to reach a Fifa Club World Cup final was almost perfect but derailed because of fatigue, according to their coach Diego Alonso.
Los Tuzos (The Gophers) had already been through one stretch of 120 minutes to beat Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca 1-0 in Saturday’s quarter-final and then they had to endure a second extra-time slog against Gremio in Tuesday’s semi before defeat, courtesy of an Everton Soares curler, on 95 minutes. Victor Guzman’s sending off five minutes later didn’t help matters in the last-four clash at Al Ain’s Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.
“For us it was a great opportunity to make history and we got very close because we competed well, but unfortunately we couldn’t fulfil our dream of getting to the final,” said the Uruguayan.
“We dominated, kept possession, had runs and didn’t allow our opponents to take advantage of us.
“We did it almost perfectly, but there was a mistake and an individual made the difference.
“We were tired because three days ago we had also played 120 minutes [against Wydad] and were playing against a side who had rested,” he said of Gremio, who had a bye to the last four.
“This gave our opponents the advantage and we had to use different strategies according to that situation. We moved a lot to dominate and were able to withstand 90 minutes but then it went to 120. We knew, the longer the game went on, the more difficult it would be for us.
“As time went by, they became more aggressive and because of the pressure we had put on them, we tired.
“It took more effort to keep the ball and you can see what happened in the end. Although we kept playing, competing and trying to get into the match, Gremio grew, especially with one more player than us. When they scored, it was very difficult for us to recover.”
Despite this, Alonso said he was proud of his team.
“I want to highlight the spirit of my players, the ambition they have is huge, and I’m really proud of them. As I said before, they are competition animals and I am very happy to manage them.
“I thought Gremio would put more pressure on us but we were able to dominate, pass and touch the ball a lot more.”
This was Pachuca’s fourth appearance in the tournament and the 13th by a Mexican side since the competition reformatted in 2000. Pachuca’s best finish was fourth in 2008, and they now have the chance of equalling the best finish by a Mexican side, which is third, in Saturday’s third-place play-off. This has previously been achieved three times by Necaxa in 2000, Monterrey in 2012 and America in 2016.
