FC Juarez Wins 3rd In Row, Defeats Necaxa 2-1

Bravos de FC Juarez defeated Nexcaxa 2-1 Sunday night at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium to make it 3 wins in a row in Liga BBVA. The win at home moves the Bravos into third place of general standings table behind only Leon and Pumas but ahead of teams like Chivas, America and Cruz Azul.

The come from behind win marked the first time FC Juarez had defeated Necaxa in franchise history removing a stone in the shoe for this young franchise. The Bravos had never defeated Necaxa and lost a promotion final to them in the spring of 2016.

The score line on Sunday night opened in the 29th minute when Necaxa’s Claudio Andres Baeza took a right footed strike from inside the Bravos goalbox off of a cross to find the back of the net. The goal came at the right time for the visiting side as ironically enough it was a moment in match where they were not looking too impressive.

The answer from the Bravos came ten minutes later when Victor Velasquez scored off of the longest header I have ever seen. Velasquez was almost out of the opposing team’s goalbox when his header volleyed high over everyone and came down just underneath the crossbar.

The match winning goal for the team from the Borderland would come early in the second half when Martin Rabunal would also volley the ball over the Necaxa goalkeeper, but instead of using his head, he would use his left foot in the 48th minute.

With 20 minutes left to go, Bravos head coach Gabriel Caballero decided to make some defensive adjustments in an attempt to lock up the win. Caballero decided to go with a 5-man defensive line by substituting defender Maxi Olivera for midfielder Mauro Fernandez. The decision paid off as the Bravos were able to hold off a Necaxa that went on an all out offensive attack in an attempt to at least salvage the tie.

After the match, Caballero spoke about what at the end of the day was a tough match, against a team that is historically mundane in their style play, which makes it difficult for one to execute their style of play.

Caballero commented, “We knew coming in that this match was going to be a hard fought, lockdown style of a match. Necaxa is team that defends well, and plays mostly in the back. On their first opportunity, on a counterattack, they were able to score and take the lead where we had missed on the several chances of goal we had before that. Despite falling behind my team knew how to maintain itself in a disciplined manner, remain balanced knowing that it would only be a matter of time before we could obtain the result we were after, which after tonight’s performance was well deserved.”

Up next for the Bravos will be two road games in the next 6 days. The Bravos will face second division Dorados de Sinaloa in Copa MX match on Wednesday night. From there the FC Juarez will travel straight to the city of Monterrey to face defending champion Rayados de Monterrey on Saturday night.