The final of the Intercontinental Cup was defined and Real Madrid knows the club that will challenge it to seek the title of this tournament, which for 2024 changed its format due to the Club World Cup that is on the horizon for next summer.
The Tuzos of Pachuca will be in charge of facing the 15-time European champion next Wednesday at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, this after leaving Al Ahly on the road in the semifinals.
The path that Pachuca has taken has not been easy, Well, the fact of eliminating the Copa Libertadores champion (Botafogo) and Al Ahly speaks of the great work that the current Concacaf monarchs have carried out.
A team that had the opportunity to live the dream that Pachuca is presented with today, is Columbus Crew, a rival whom the Tuzos defeated decisively in the Concacaf Champions Cup final to qualify for this intercontinental competition.
Columbus Crew and the frustrated dream of the Intercontinental Cup
It became evident that the path for those led by Wilfried Nancy did not appear to be so complicated. Well, being the best team in the MLS throughout 2023 and in the first half of 2024, it is a fact that the Crew was able to compete against the rivals that Pachuca left out.
The work that Almada has done with Pachucaa team that was eliminated early in Liga MX and that bet everything on the Intercontinental Cup, puts on the table what the Columbus Crew was able to experience and even in a certain way in a similar way, because it was left out of the MLS playoffs in the first round, which, although it took away the pace of the competition, gave more rest and preparation time for a tournament of this magnitude.
Football made a difference in favor of Pachuca
Taking into account that Columbus Crew has a higher squad value than Pachuca (61 million dollars compared to Pachuca’s 58.4 million), The quality of the MLS team’s footballers could not be an excuse to think that the MLS team could follow this same path.
Players like Cucho Hernández, Diego Rossi and Alexandru Mãtan, together exceed 25 million dollars, while the Tuzos have in Idrissi, Deossa and Bryan González footballers with a combined value of 15 million dollars and who have made a difference against Botafogo and Al Ahly.
In the end, it was merit on the field of play that made the difference for Pachuca to qualify for this competition.in which today he celebrates his place in the final against Real Madrid.
While Columbus and MLS know that there is still work to do to reach that level with which Liga MX has clearly marked its hegemony in Concacaf.
Follow the Diario AS channel on WhatsAppwhere you will find all the sport in a single space: the current news of the day, the agenda with the latest news of the most important sporting events, the most outstanding images, the opinion of the best AS brands, reports, videos, and some humor from time to time.
