TOKYO - Not even the most pessimistic of Pachuca fans can have imagined their team's participation at Japan 2007 would be so brief. Tipped by many pre-tournament to push Boca Juniors hard for a place in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007, a 1-0 quarter-final reverse at the hands of Etoile Sportive du Sahel leaves the CONCACAF champions preparing for the long journey home

The looks on the faces of the Pachuca players as they left the dressing rooms said it all. Among the most disappointed was the Argentinian Christian Gimenez, who came close to scoring on a couple of occasions. "This really hurts. We prepared superbly for this game and deserved so much more from it. It was all going well until... I don't know what to say, I just feel terrible. We lost but now have to pick ourselves up. I'm proud of my team-mates because they showed self respect and did all they could to win. We just couldn't do it," he told FIFA.com.

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