The Bravos de FC Juarez defeated Mineros de Zacatecas by a score of 1-0 in front of a sold out Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium on Saturday evening, to advance to the finals of the Ascenso MX League for the 2015 Apertura season.

The aggregate score for the 2-game home & home series was 2-1, as these team tied by a score of 1-1 Wednesday night in Zacatecas.

The gol by FC Juarez came in the 6 minute of the match when Bravos midfielder Gael Sandoval stole the ball and passed it teammate Eder Borelli on the left flank. From there Borelli centered the ball to into the 6-yard goal box were forward Mario Ortiz headed it past the Zacatecas goalkeeper Carlos Vasquez.

The early score in the game resulted in increased intensity to an elimination game. As the intensity of the match grew with every passing minute so did the poor officiating job of center referee
Angel Monroy.

Alex Rodriguez de la Lama.
Alex Rodriguez de la Lama.
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At times it appeared that the team from the Borderland was going up against 12 players on the field of play not 11, with Monroy being the 12th man for the visiting side.

However, somehow karma did its job and square things away as the Bravos were the beneficiaries of good fortune as the crossbar saved them on 2 occasions as did their goalkeeper Ivan Vasquez who had two of the best saves he has had all season long.

The match went back and forth for the duration of the 90-minutes of play as no clear domination by FC Juarez was ever established something that had been the case in their last 10 to 12 games. Ball control and the creation of scoring opportunities seem to come in 10 minute intervals by both teams all the way until the final whistle which gave FC Juarez the victory.

The final 5 to 7 minutes of the match were something to behold as a sold out FC Juarez cheered on the local side with non-stop soccer chants proving that this fanbase is of major league caliber.

After the match FC Juarez head coach Sergio Orduna commented on the victory and reaching the finals, “I'm very happy obviously, my team came out today highly focused and with a great attitude as always against a very difficult adversary both over in Zacatecas and tonight here in Juarez. As I've said before and I will continue to say tonight, the team is continues to improve with every passing match and the players are very motivated. My respects to our fans, I applaud them because they were fantastic.”

FC Juarez will meet Atlante in the Finals of the playoffs. Despite losing 3-2 last night, Atlante advanced because of the away goals rule to play FC Juarez in the Finals. The first tie breaker is the amount of goals a team scores as road opponent. Atlante scored two of its three goals in the series as a visitor, and Lobos didn't score any. The first game of the 2-game home and home final series will be in Cancun on Wednesday and second game in Borderland on Saturday.

 

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