🐯 Sebastian Cordova is Tigres' new Mr. Liguilla
With Gignac finally getting help up top, Tigres go into tonight's first leg of the final against Chivas with renewed confidence.
At the end of the Tuca Ferretti era, for much of the Miguel Herrera era and most of 2023, Tigres’ attacking strategy looked something like this: Win the ball, find Andre-Pierre Gignac and pray. For a team stocked with as much talent as big-spending Tigres, this may seem reductive, but it’s also a tempting strategy when so often Gignac mercifully answered the prayers of Tigres managers, fans and supporters with game-changing goals.
What would it look like, though, if someone else could score? If defenses had to fixate on Gignac and anyone else on Tigres’ team? Could they stop that? As Tigres prepares for the Liga MX final against Chivas (first leg tonight, 9p CT, TUDN), it looks more and more like the answer is no.
That player has emerged, someone getting into the attack to help the central forward and outdoing his impressive playoff tallies in the process.
Sebastian Cordova has scored in each of Tigres’ last five matches, giving the club a new dimension and pushing them two games from another Liga MX title after a season of upheaval, frustration and underwhelming results from the club.
He has scored goals with his left foot. He has scored goals with his right foot. His winner against Rayados in the second leg of the semifinal with the crosstown rival was a header.
And he’s not just finding the final product, either. He’s helping to produce it. No player in the postseason has more touches in the area or shots on goal, according to our friends at Statiskicks. He also is third in the playoffs when it comes to recoveries made in the opposing half and third in progressive dribbles.
Cordova is hardly an unknown in Mexican soccer circles. His potential was clear at América. He became a first-team regular in 2019 but previously had suited up for Mexico’s youth sides, playing in the Toulon Tournament. In 2021, he went to the Olympics.
This is not a player coming out of nowhere to make a difference but a player turning the potential everyone saw into his present reality.
“My coaching staff and I are very sure he’s the creative player,” Tigres manager Robert Dante Siboldi said yesterday. “He’s the player who has to have the ball at his feet to generate chances - beyond just making the team play and linking with the forward or the forwards, he’s really solid recovering the ball.
“He makes a lot of sacrifices that aren’t noticed or seen but he does a lot of important things when it’s time to win the ball back.”
When Herrera went north, he eventually was able to bring Cordova with him, but what he saw in training and elsewhere didn’t impress him. Cordova struggled to find a starting role and ended up with just one goal during the campaign, not getting into the Liguilla at all.
Yet, he started to recuperate his level in the Apertura, making 15 starts for Herrera and chipping in four goals.
This tournament has been a difficult one for Tigres. After Herrera’s firing, Diego Cocca took over the team, but he was soon snapped up to lead the national team. That left “Chima” Ruiz to fill the vacancy. When it was clear that wasn’t working, Tigres’ directors called in Robert Dante Siboldi to lead the team in the stretch run and the playoffs. Siboldi gave Cordoba that belief that even if he made a mistake, he’d still be on the field next game to try and make up for an error.
“We talked with him and the whole group that confidence is important and belief and belief in themselves first of all,” Siboldi said, “That they’ve got this confidence that suddenly, without continuity or with results not coming together, sometimes is lost.
“We all know the quality and ability he has, that he is showing it again and putting his real level on the field. We think what he was missing was continuity and confidence and we’ve tried to give him that.”
It’s not only Cordova who has responded to a larger role. While still bouncing between starter and super sub, Diego Lainez has two assists in the playoffs, linking well with Cordova and other attackers.
Yet, Cordova just seems to have that magic about him, taking the title of “Mr. Liguilla” from Gignac as he continues to create headaches for teams on the run to the final and, Cordova hopes, Thursday and Sunday against Chivas.
“What we have in mind and knew we had to do against Atlas and América is try to stop the most dangerous players each team has. Today, Cordova is in good form and we’ve got to see how we, as a team, can stop him from getting into the area, sending crosses, all these things Sebas is doing really well,” Chivas midfielder Fernando Beltran said yesterday.
Eventually, Tigres will have to think about life after Gignac. The 37-year-old forward signed a two-year extension in February but won’t be able to be the answer to the club’s prayers forever. In fact, if Cordova can sustain some of what he’s doing during his hot streak, it’s possible he will be the answer or at least part of it.
Now, though, the focus is still on how those two can work together, bringing Tigres a title that just a few weeks ago felt impossible.