FC Juarez Lose To Atlas 1-0 On Own Goal

Bravos de FC Juarez lost to Atlas Friday night at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium by the score of 1-0. The loss snaps the Bravos 3 match undefeated streak. The lone goal in the match was a product of an own goal by midfielder Mauro Fernandez in the 10th minute of the match. Needless to say the Bravos were unable to score in the remaining 80 minutes of the match.

The costly mistake for FC Juarez came on a defensive effort where Fernandez was in an all out sprint to try and disrupt and offensive attack by the visiting team. Fernandez caught up to play but was only able to get his toe on the ball when he attempted to clear it. The ball went directly to the back of the net.

FC Juarez was consistently imprecise in their passing, carelessly losing possession of the ball for the entire match. A majority of the match was played in Atlas territory as the team from Guadalajara dropped back to mostly defend when they took the lead, still the Bravos struggled to create constant legitimate threats on goal.

The two biggest chances to score for FC Juarez came in the second half. Midfielder Marco Fabian had point blank shot on goal and Victor Manon had a stronger header that was going to the lower right corner in the 80 minute. On both occasions, Atlas goalkeeper Camilo Vargas was the savior, producing the two best saves of the match.

In his post match comments Bravos head coach, Gabriel Caballero, was firm in his self critic of his team’s performance. Caballero commented, "We knew this was going to be a touch match, a highly contested match. The truth is this match wasn’t for us to lose. They didn’t present any real threat to score. It was highly contested in midfield, many 50-50 balls were disputed, but offensively once again we haven’t been able to finish. We created a couple of real threats on goal, but right now we are lacking that calm and clarity that is needed before you execute the killer instinct to put the ball in the back of the net. Now we have no other choice but to continue to work, improve and think about our next match on Wednesday."

That Wednesday match will be against Xolos de Tijuana in Baja California. This match was supposed to take place last weekend but didn’t due to positive COVID-19 test results for Tijuana. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 6pm MST and will be televised in both Spanish and English nationally on Fox Sports Deportes and Fox Sports 2.