Campeones Cup: Tigres Thrash Toronto

Two goals from Jesús Dueñas and and an own goal by Toronto FC’s Eriq Zavaleta were enough to propel Tigres to their first international title with a 3-1 victory in the inaugural edition of the Campeones Cup.

The first goal of the match for Jesús Dueñas and Tigres came completely against the run of play. After struggling to get much of anything going in the early portion of the match, it looked as though los Felinos were going to be in for a long night. Instead, Juninho lifted a beautiful ball over the top of the Toronto defense and Dueñas slotted past a helpless Alex Bono in goal to open the scoring in the 36th minute.

Tigres played like an entirely new team after scoring the first goal of the match. Instead of allowing the MLS champions to dictate the speed and style of play, los Auriazules used the momentum swing to aggressively take control of the match.

Toronto FC suffered a major setback just moments after falling behind when Sebastian Giovinco, the 2015 MLS MVP, had to be substituted due to an injury of some sort.

After dominating much of the early going in the second half, Tigres were able to double their lead with Jesus Dueñas’ second goal of the match. The goal came off of a pinpoint shot from distance just seconds after a corner was headed out of the area by the Toronto defense.

Los Felinos went up 3-0 just two minutes later after Toronto defender Eriq Zavaleta horrendously deflected a low cross from Enner Valencia into the back of the net. There was nothing that Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono could have done to prevent the defensive gaffe from costing his team a goal.

Toronto responded with several opportunities of their own inside of the Tigres box -including a Jonathan Osorio shot from the top of the box that deflected off of teammate Donavan Ricketts. Ultimately, the hosts were unable to break down the Tigres defense from the run of play.

In the 85th minute, Argentine striker Lucas Janson scored a penalty to ensure that the MLS champions wouldn’t be shutout at home. The penalty was awarded following a handball inside the box from match MVP Jesús Dueñas.

Tigres return to Liga MX action on Sunday at 8 p.m. local time as they host arch-rivals Rayados de Monterrey in the Clásico Regiomontano at the Estadio Universitario.