Monterrey begins its participation in the Club World Cup against the Egyptian Al Ahly

One year after tigers was runner-up in the Club World Cupachieving the best Mexican performance in that tournament, Monterrey starts this Saturday in Abu Dhabi (11:30 in Ecuador) its adventure in a new edition, with a ‘quarter-final’ duel against Egyptian Al Ahly.

The team from Cairo is the representative of Africa as champion of its continent, an honor it has achieved ten times (a competition record) in its long and more than centenary history, in which it is also the most successful club in the Egyptian championship (42 titles).

Monterrey will therefore face a team that is used to big international events and that has already been third in the Club World Cup twicein 2006 and on a more recent occasion, last year, where he also achieved the symbolic bronze in this competition.

But Monterrey has also been third in the Club World Cup twice, in 2012 and 2017. Now they will try to overcome what they achieved then and shine with more force, after Tigres won last year the first qualification of a Mexican team for the finalthen losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich.

After that step forward, has the time come for Mexico to finally conquer the world club title, which eludes them every edition?

Until now, the winners of the Club World Cup have been divided between the frequent successes of the representatives from Europe (thirteen titles) and the four from South America (the four from Brazilian formations).

Precisely a Brazilian team, Palmeiras, will follow with special attention the result of this fight between Mexicans and Egyptians, since they wait for the winner in the semifinal on Tuesday.

Palmeiras awaits rival

But before that eventual confrontation against Palmeiras, Monterrey wants to go step by step, without losing hope of doing something great in this edition, in which the main favorite, English Chelsea, would not be measured until a hypothetical final.

“We envision ourselves being world champions and lifting that cup, but we also we are focused and concentrated that we have to play a great game on Saturday. It is essential to win it and do it in the best way. We know that it is step by step and we have to take the first step”, declared at a press conference last Wednesday in the United Arab Emirates one of the members of Monterrey, Eric Aguirre.

“We wait for the best rival. It’s not going to be easy, they’re also competing in this World Cup for a reason. We have to arrive in the best way”, he pointed out about the first game against Al Ahly.

It is the fifth Club World Cup. In the previous four, Monterrey had uneven luck, since in addition to the two occasions (2012 and 2017) in which they managed to overcome the first game and reach the semifinals, achieving third place on both occasions, they had two other times in which was eliminated in their ‘fourths’ match.

The first of those two disappointments was in 2011, in his debut in the competition, when he was eliminated against the local Kashiwa Reysol in Japan, in the penalty shootout (4-3 after a 1-1 draw).

In 2013 they lost in extra time (2-1) in their duel against Raja Casablanca, who were also local in that edition, played in Morocco. (D)