Coming into this tournament, the big teams were not quite the devastating footballing machines that the people in Japan expected to see. The teams from CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, and UEFA were not going through their best run of form and it seemed like this tournament would be wide open. On Sunday, Pachuca became the first victim and validated that position..
Even though Pachuca possessed 2:1 in some stretches, the ball did not find the back of the net. Etoile’s strategy was simple, make the game as mucky as possible in their defensive end. This disrupted Los Tuzos’ rhythm. Still this did not shut down Pachuca completely. They were able to get to Balbouli’s goal, giving them a huge scare early on only to see Juan Carlos Cacho’s shot rattle off the crossbar.
Pachuhca came into the second half continuing to pour on the pressure while the Tunisians defended with their lives. Pachuca, with the ball at the feet did not know what to do with and depended solely on a Juan Carlos Cacho that could not deliver. The team could not find a way on the wings. There was no play generated to come inside the box that was clogged by the defensive scheme set up by Betrand Marchand. The Mexican were a shell of the team that they were just a few months ago and it looks like a transition is ready to begin.
¨The result wasn’t the greatest, but the team improved greatly. Maybe (the media) might see it differently, but I would take the team’s performance in the first half. It is a sign that the team is getting their form back,¨ said coach Enrique Meza after the match.
It wasn’t until the 85th when Pachuca saw the cruelty of the game as well as the end of their dreams that they were looking forward to for months. In a romantic world, it is the team that attacks and shows some intention of playing that gets the reward. But that is not what football is about. Moussa Narry took a shot from 35 meters out and it deflected off Damián Álvarez and into the net, showing once again the lack of mobility of an aging Miguel Calero. The goal left Pachuca without breath, they had no ideas and no strength left after attacking for 8o-plus minutes as well as having the ball 64% of the time.
For the African champs, the journey does not get any easier as they now will have to face Argentine giants Boca Juniors on December 12th.
ETO- Balbouli, Ghezal, Falhi, Chermiti, Bejaoui, Gharbi, Frej, Nafkha, Narry, Ogunbiyi, Bendifallah
PAC- Calero, López, Manzur, Correa, Álvarez, Caballero, Cacho, Cabrera, Rodríguez, Giménez, Pinto
Goal: ETO- Narry (85′)
Bookings: ETO- Gharbi, Bendhifallah; PAC- López, Álvarez
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