Pachuca attacking midfielder Cristian Giminez said that his team were worthy of winning the Club World Cup third place.
The CONCACAF champions had to settle with fourth position, after they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Gamba Osaka in the third/fourth place game on Sunday.
"Gamba deserved to win the game. They were very good today and they made the best of their chances," Giminez told reporters.
"But we also played very well this year and would have deserved to win third place."
After conceding the game's winner in the first half, Pachuca pushed for an equalizer in the second but their attempts went in vain.
"After the interval, we improved a lot and we created many chances, but we lacked the last touch.
"Gamba are a really dangerous and disciplined team, who defend very well. We tried to break them but we couldn’t."
Prior to the Gamba loss, Pachuca beat Ahli 4-2 in their first CWC game, before they lost 2-0 in the semis to South American champions Liga de Quito.