Bravos Come Undone in Second Half and Lose at Pachuca

It was looking good, then fair and then it turned ugly in a hurry. That’s how things went on Sunday evening for FC Juarez in the state of Hidalgo where they lost to Pachuca by the score of 4-1.

The home team scored 3 unanswered goals in the second half to hand the Bravos their second defeat of the 2023 clausura season of Liga BBVA MX.

FC Juarez got off to a good start, dominating possession in the opening 15 minutes of the match. Pachuca then started to settle in and began to execute their match, consistently generating offensive pressure and threats on goal. The scoreline opened in the 28th minute when a Tuzos cross from the right flanked ended up in an own goal by Bravos’ center defender Alejandro Arribas.

Juarez tied the match in the opening two minutes of the second half when Dario Lezcano scored off of a header from a corner kick in the 47th minute…then the collapse came.

Maurico Isais scored seven minutes later, to retake the lead 2-1, by producing a left footed blast from outside of 25-yards that hit the crossbar and spiked inside the goal line that was confirmed by a VAR review to retake.

The home side extended their lead in the 76th minute off of a corner kick header by Jose Castillo and scored their last goal of the night via a penalty spot in the 82 minute. The kick was executed by Roberto de la Rosa.

After the game FC Juarez head coach/technical director Hernan Cristante felt unwell and his assistant Diego Mejia spoke with the media in the post match press conference. Mejia said, “The two road matches we’ve had thus far this season have been planned quite well, yet we’ve failed to show stability on the road in our performances that allows us to return home with more calm. Today, with all do respect to Pachuca who played an excellent game, I don’t think the score reflects what happened over the course of the match. Yes, we made some mistakes which Pachuca makes you pay for them.”

Mejia added, “Now we return home, work to obtain points and from there have another match on the road and look to get a good result.”

With the loss, FC Juarez plummeted in the standings table to 12th place with three points on the season. Prior to the match with Pachuca they were in the top five in the standings.

What’s next

The Bravos will now host Chivas de Guadalajara this coming weekend. The most popular team in Mexican soccer will once again return to the Borderland. Chivas is currently in eighth place in the standings table with 4 points on the season as a result of one win, one loss and a draw. That loss came last weekend, when they were defeated by Toluca 2-1 at home.

FC Juarez Women continue to impress

Meanwhile, FC Juarez women remained perfect on the season winning their third match of the young season, defeating Pachuca 2-0. Both goals for the ‘Bravas’ came from their American players Jasmin Casarez and Miah Zuazua. Casarez is from California and Zuazua is from the Metroplex here in Texas. Both goals came in the first half (in the 35th and 41st minutes respectively), both goals were off of headers.

Despite the win and perfect record, FC Juarez dropped one position in the standings to third place due to goals scored in favor of goal. Tigres is in second place ahead of the Bravos because they have scored one more goal thus far (11).

More impressive still, is the fact that Juarez has yet to concede a goal this season in 270 minutes of play.

The Bravas will face Chivas in Guadalajara on Monday night.