February 10 – Tigres go into the home leg of their Round 1 tie at the daunting Estadio Universitario in Nuevo Leon after a 0-0 draw at Forge FC.
The star of the first round was Forge FC’s debut goalkeeper Dimitry Bertaud who welded his goal shut to keep out a marauding Tigres.
Bertaud’s seven saves and numerous defensive blocks were the foundation of an improbable result and have kept the tie alive, and the possibility of giant-killing.
Tigres came out of the blocks with an intent to provide a goal-fest to warm up a very cold Canadian evening.
Veteran French forward and the club’s leading scorer André-Pierre Gignac started the peppering of the Forge goal. The fourth highest all-time goalscorer in Champions Cup history with 20 goals, had the opportunities in Hamilton to move up that list but it wasn’t to be.
In his post-match press conference, Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis, who has been the club’s coach since it was founded in 2019 and while winning Canadian championships has failed to get past the first round in what is now their fourth Champions Cup appearance, said: “It’s important to give yourself a good opportunity in the second game.
“We decided to be a little bit different than we have been in the past in these games, with the result being the most important thing. I thought the guys went out there and executed very well.”
Smyrniotis set up with a five-man defensive backline that gave as cold a welcome to the Mexicans as the weather. In Nuevo Leon, Tigres will look to turn the temperature up several notches.
Forge captain Kyle Bekker was diplomatic post-game, but as the game progressed the Canadians grew in confidence against their more celebrated opponents.
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” said Bekker. “We’re not stupid. We know they have quality, and going to Mexico and getting results is no easy feat. But the importance of leg one was to just give ourselves a fighting chance, and that’s what we did.”
Round 1, second leg, February 10, Tigres UNAL (0) Forge FC (0)