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After their loss to Kashiwa Reysol on penalties in the quarterfinal round of the FIFA Club World Cup, Monterrey dropped down into the fifth place match against Esperance, the Tunisian side who won the most recent edition of the CAF Champions League. Though the semifinals were Monterrey's goal, Victor Manuel Vucetich and co. won't be too disappointed with a fifth place finish, after they defeated Esperance 3-2 early on Wednesday morning in North America.
Yannick Ndjeng opened the scoring for the Tunisians in the 31st minute, but they were subject to a wave of Monterrey attacks on either end of the halftime whistle. Esperance got beaten in the air by Monterrey's big players, as Hiram Mier, Aldo de Nigris and Jesus Zavala all scored between the 39th and 47th minutes.
Khaled Mouelhi got one back for his side in the 76th minute, but Esperance could not find an equalizer and Monterrey went out of the tournament on a positive note.
However, there is one piece of bad news to report. Jose Ernesto Perez appeared to pick up an injury and was substituted out in the 28th minute. The severity of that injury and the details are not yet known.