Game: Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. vs. Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Date: Sunday, August 19th
Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Central, 4:00 p.m. Pacific, 12:00 a.m. UTC
Venue: Estadio Corona TSM (Torreón, Coah.)
Referees: REF: Jorge Antonio Pérez Durá, AR1: Andres Hernández Delgado, AR2: Miguel Angel Chua Ortiz, 4TH: José Alfredo Peñaloza Soto
Television: United States - Univision Deportes; Mexico - Sky HD, SKY Planeta Fútbol
Streaming: fuboTV (Free trial + monthly subscription), Sling TV (Free trial + monthly subscription), Univision NOW, Fanatiz (Check service for available regions)
Santos Laguna (3W 0D 1L) will face their toughest test at home this year when Tigres UANL (2W 0D 2L) comes to Torreón in the final match of Week 5. Santos gave up an early goal last week before Matheus Doría and Jonathan Rodríguez scored to down Chivas (0W 1D 3L) at Estadio Akron.
These teams last faced off in July in the Campeón de Campeones, with Tigres blowing Santos out 4-0 at El Volcán. Since then, Santos has stabilized on the pitch with their only blemish coming on the road against Monarcas Morelia (3W 1D 1L) in Week 2. Rodríguez and Julio Furch have meshed well with each other and the midfield corps, and as a result Santos has one of the low-key better offenses in the league.
Tigres is considerably less low-key about their offense being one of the better in Liga MX. With players like Jürgen Damm, Lucas Zelerayán, Jesús Dueñas, and André-Pierre Gignac up front, Tigres has the offensive firepower to compete with any club. One component of Tigres’ offense that will be missing however is Guido Pizarro, who picked up a red card in the match against Toluca.
Tigres’ high press means that Santos will need to play smart, positionally-sound soccer. Tigres will look to move the ball with short quick passes up toward Zelerayán and Gignac. Gignac has proven to be more of an aerial threat this season than seasons past, adding another dimension to his game.