Juan Brunetta’s 68th-minute goal broke a scoreless tie and created a lead too big for Nashville SC to overcome as Tigres UANL picked up their second straight 1-0 victory on Tuesday night at Estadio Universitario in San Nicolas de los Garzato, Mexico, to advance to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final.
The win, coupled with Tigres’ 1-0 win in Nashville on April 28, gave Tigres a 2-0 win on aggregate. They will face the winner of the other semifinal between Toluca and Los Angeles FC. LAFC won 2-1 in Los Angeles on April 29. The second leg will be played Wednesday at Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca, Mexico.
The single-leg final will be played May 30.
This will be Tigres’ fifth appearance in the title game. The club won the championship in 2020 and finished runner-up in 2016, ’17 and ’19.
On Tuesday, Brunetta found Angel Correa on a quick throw in along the left sideline. As Correa got past Nashville defender Jeisson Palacios on his first touch, he worked his way into the 18-yard box before giving it back to a trailing Brunetta.
The 28-year-old Brunetta faked a shot to send a defender to the ground, made one dribble, then fired a shot over the head of Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake.
Tigres outshot Nashville 9-6 and had the game’s only two shots to be on target.
Schwake made one save while Nahuel Guzman got the shutout without having to make a save.
–Field Level Media
