Portuguese Renato Paiva, coach Toluca The Mexican said this Wednesday that Toluca was naive and did not know how to understand the system proposed by the United States, which defeated them 2-0 in the first leg of the Apertura 2024 quarter-finals.
“We naively fell into America’s trap. We didn’t know how to play this match and we paid a lot for it. I was surprised by America’s tactical approach, they expected our mistake, we didn’t force it even though we had two options,” the coach said at the end of the party.
The home team dominated the first half of the match, although Toluca had two clear options which the goalkeeper saved. Angel Malacon. Águilas sealed the victory with a second-half brace from Uruguay’s Rodrigo Aguirre.
In the second half, Paiva said he warned his players to wait for the opponent to make a mistake, but they were behind on the scoreboard and didn’t know how to react.
“I spoke to the players and told them that America was playing to find our mistake. They gave us time to give us the ball, but the game broke after their goal, we went for a tie and they caught a long ball. After us, they made it 2-0 and we lost. ,” he explained.
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Despite the defeat, the tactician is confident they can bounce back in the second leg when they host Aguilas next Saturday.
“The tie is open. That’s how the finals are, it’s not defined, although we know America is on the other side. I hope to come back because if there’s a team that can score two goals against America. That’s Toluka We can achieve that in our home too,” he said confidently.
Apertura 2024 was Paiva’s second tournament as Diablos Rojos, in the first, Clausura 2024, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Guadalajara.
