Congrats to UANL Tigres, 2011 Mexican Apertura Champions!

Congratulations are in order for UANL Tigres, who last night beat Santos to clinch the 2011 Apertura title in the Mexican Primera Division.



Tigres beat Santos 3-1 last night at home after defeating them 0-1 on the road in the first leg of the final. It was a pretty exciting game in the first half, not so much in the second. In the 12th minute, Santos 'keeper Oswaldo Sanchez was shown the red card for a challenge in the area on Tigres' Danilinho. However, the backup 'keeper came in and promptly saved the PK.

Then in the 31st minute Santos hit back. Mexico international Oribe Peralta scored a tap in off of a nice ball to even the aggregate score at 1-1 going into the half.

Tigres came out and put the title away in the second half though. They scored three goals, two by Danilinho and one by Hector Mancilla, to make the final aggregate score 4-1.

The win marks UANL's first title in 29 years. Santos has been runner up in 3 of the last 4 Mexican Primera finals.

Congrats to Tigres, and the 2012 Clausura starts January 6!

Mexico Match Thoughts: Estudiantes Tecos vs. Tigres

The last match I had on the DVR to watch from last weekend was the Mexican Primera Division clash between Estudiantes and Tigres. I don't know how rabid footy fans live without a DVR. I really don't. So much soccer, so little time.

Right from the opening kick off you could tell that Tigres was the better side, they certainly looked it. They just came out and said, "This is our ball, come and get it." For their part, Estudiantes seemed to be quite content to defend. For all Tigres' possession, they really didn't manufacture a ton of chances. One of the few they did get came in the 6th minute, when Garces got a shot off at close range, only to see it nabbed by Martinez in goal. Again in the 40th minute, they had a rather long spell of possession in the Estudiantes penalty area, but couldn't manufacture a shot.

Estudiantes never did rally much possession or chances. Their only decent chance of the half, and maybe the match, came in the 22nd minute when Gomez had a shot that was saved rather easily. We went to the half time break tied at 0-0.

The second half was rather like the first. Tigres had the ball and Estudiantes was defending. However, Tigres seemed desperate to get more shots and turn up the heat a bit on the Estudiantes back line. They finally broke through in the 62nd minute when their keeper triggered a counter off an Estudiantes free kick. Tigres worked into crossing position, sent it in, and Isreal Sabdi Jimenez Nanez headed it into the back of the net to give Tigres a 0-1 advantage.

After the goal, Estudiantes settled for a handful of off target shots from Gomez. They never really threatened and Tigres took a well deserved win, 0-1.