Benjamín Mora apologizes to Atlas fans after elimination

In the final minutes of the quarterfinal second leg, the Zorros decided to go on the offensive against the Rebaño Sagrado and came close to scoring the required goal for qualification to the next round. Some fans criticized the team for not having that conviction from the start, and that had coach Benjamin Mora explaining his own feelings and offering an apology.

Atlas boss Mora feels weight upon shoulders

“Obviously, with sadness and not a very good feeling because we came to qualify,” Mora began. “It was a highly contested match, a very difficult double-header, against a worthy opponent who fought and did things correctly, just like us. It was so even that we managed to tie on aggregate, but our position in the table is not enough for us to advance to the semifinals. We won 1-0 there, and they won 1-0 here. Throughout the 200 minutes, we had crucial moments where we could have been the victors.

“We contained Chivas’ attacks until they scored from a set-piece, and we were unable to then level the game. We are sad that we couldn’t give our faithful fans the joy they deserve, for the lads who gave everything to compete, the effort, the will, and the bravery to fight, but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough to go through,” he explained.

“In reality, right now the immediate future is to rethink, rebuild, and establish again the foundations of what we want to do. Me staying in place is assured because we talked about it with the management some time ago. The talks are still in progress. Regarding the fans, I understand how painful it is. We apologize sincerely from the bottom of our hearts because we wanted to fight, compete, and make an effort. We were evenly matched, we never gave up. I can’t say anything different from that. I respect all opinions, but we have the internal diagnosis of this tournament, which is very salvageable according to how things went in the semester,” he continued.

“If it were so easy to tell them to do it from minute one, and everything would be perfect, it would be easier. But it’s not, the opponent matters, the environment matters. They came out aggressively, pressing very hard, looking for the game. We didn’t find space quickly. However, we had a chance from Furch that could have made it 1-0 and in the first half, they didn’t have any clear chances. We played the game and came to win the contest.

Nearly misses for Atlas, who fought to the end

“In the second half, if the shot onto the post had gone in, we would be talking about something else. We didn’t betray who we are, the style of this team, and the fight it has until the end, we tried our best. Our substitutions were offensive, we lost Jeremy very early, who could have given us certain things, and that was the game,” Mora explained.

“I always want to improve as a coach. I think we planned both games very well, analyzed them well, from my place, in strategy, tactical planning, and game plan. I think we had very positive things. Later we will watch the game back, see if, with hindsight, we can improve in decision-making. I am calm because the game unfolded as we thought. Unfortunately, we conceded and couldn’t rescue a goal ourselves. It was an aggregate score that speaks to how evenly matched it was against the third-place team in the table.

“It’s painful having lost, I don’t like to lose, I don’t want to learn how to lose. I like to win, we will always try, once again with our heads held high and with pride in these admirable guys,” Benjamin Mora concluded.