Miners-Bravas Friendly Ends in a Scoreless Draw

The UTEP Miners soccer team and the FC Juarez Bravas played to a 0-0 draw Wednesday night at University Field. Despite no goals being scored over the course of 90 minutes, the sellout crowd in attendance was treated to plenty of action making it an entertaining affair.

The first half ended with the Bravas setting the conditions on field of play and dominating ball possession. A majority of the first 45 minutes was spent in the Bravas offensive third despite no real threats on goal being produced thanks to a very organized and disciplined UTEP defensive line. The Miners were able to produce a shot that went off the cross in the closing stages of the first half which was their most notable threat on goal in the opening half.

The Bravas set the tone for the remainder of the match in the opening moments of the second half. Their domination of the ball possession became more notable while it was evident that any offensive attacks from UTEP would come in the form of counterattacks. In the final ten minutes of the match both teams went into overdrive with an onslaught of back and forth offensive attacks as both teams sought desperately to put away the possible match winner.

The match ended in a scoreless draw but it was not to say that it was a boring match that lacked intensity, it was quite the opposite.

600 ESPN El Paso spoke with UTEP athletic director Jim Senter to get his thoughts on the second ever friendly between these two institutions (the other took place in early March 2020 just before the start of the pandemic also at University Field). Senter said, "I want to thank the leadership of FC Juarez and the Bravas for coming over, being and playing in El Paso with us. That’s a lot of fun and exciting for our fans and they have a good contingent of fans as well. I don’t know when the last time University Field was sold out with a crowd of 1,100, I look around and see that people care about soccer, particularly women’s soccer. There’s a lot of energy and excitement, we’re just glad that they’re here."

As for Wednesday’s friendly becoming an annual event Senter responded, "It is a no brainer. There’s a lot of interest and I think it’s great for our two sister cities to have friendly rivalries and play each other in sports because that brings the community closer together."

The Bravas now manage rest and preparation leading up to their next match on the road versus Atletico San Luis in two Sunday’s (April 14th). Meanwhile, the Miners will continue their spring training in preparation for their upcoming season starting at the end of summer.