He's determined not to let that happen again.
"For us the best motivation is to kow that we are going to compete with the best teams of the world," Calero said. "The team is mentally strong, things will be different. We hope to play well and make the team to be where it should be and that is within the first places."
Pachuca had more chances. and had them early. Juan Carlos Cacho put a header off the bar and Gabriel Caballero had his apparent goal cleared off the line.
But on an 85th-minute counter, Moussa Narry's 35-yard shot changed direction after striking Leobardo Lopez, eliminating Pachuca and sending the Tunisian side to the semifinals.
As the last winner of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup in April, Pachuca is going back to Tokyo with a chance at earning some redemption. It faces African champion Al Ahly of Egypt on December 13 in the quarterfinals of this year's FIFA Club World Cup.
"Last year we returned sad, but only God knows why things happen," said Enrique Meza, technical director of Pachuca. "We were bitter, but who is going to stop us from dreaming of winning a title of this level. It has been a long tiime since the team was healthy, and today we are complete. Everyone is here to play and that is a reason for satisfaction." A victory against Al Ahly would send Pachuca to a semifinal clash against Copa Libertadores winner Liga de Quito.
Calero, Meza and even team management expressed their desire to avenge last year's disappointment at a team media day at the club's Estadio Hidalgo.
"We are in debt wih the fans, with Mexico and with CONCACAF," said Jesus Martinez, president of the club. "We trust last year's experience will be useful to us. We are not talking about failures here, those are the lessons of life; last year was a lesson of life. We were determined to be there again and it happened. We call that revenge."
