After defeating Ulsan Hyundai to earn a spot in the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup tournament in Qatar, Tigres makes history by defeating Palmeiras of Brazil and will be the first team in CONCACAF to play in the tournament’s final. The Mexican team will play the winner of Al Ahly and Bayern Munich.

Palmeiras entered the tournament without one of their key players, Breno Lopes, who scored the game-winning goal in the Copa Libertadores Final vs. Santos.

The match started with Tigres nearly opening the score in the first five minutes of the game. Thanks to a save by Weverton, the first of many to come, on a header by Carlos Gonzalez, the game remained scoreless.

Palmeiras had an early opportunity of their own as Rony fired a missile from outside the box that forced a diving save by Nahuel Guzman as the game started picking up some steam.

Welcome to the Gignac Show

Gignac started to make his presence felt with Tigres’ most dangerous opportunity in the first 35 minutes of the game on a nice combination with Quiñones that Weverton would deny.

Weverton proved to be a difficult barrier to break as he once again impeded the Frenchman to score on a spectacular header.

Tigres breaks through!

Early in the second half, a foul inside the box on Carlos Gonzalez was called for a penalty and André-Pierre Gignac executed it to perfection to finally beat the Palmeiras goalkeeper.

As the clock continued to work against Palmeiras, the Brazilian team kept searching for opportunities and found one that nearly put them on scoreboard as the ball deflected off one of Tigres’ players just wide of the goal post.

In the end, even with 6 minutes of stoppage time, the clock ran out for the Brazilian side, and Tigres makes history for Mexican Soccer and CONCACAF.

The Top Tigres Performers

The team collectively played exceptionally well, but rest assured, the final will likely be tougher. Check out who we thought were the top standout performers for Tuca’s team in this game.

So what’s your prediction for the final? And if you are a fan of a different Mexican soccer club, will you be cheering for Tigres in the final? Let us know by posting a message in the comments in the section or our Instagram page.

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