El Paso Hosts Playoff; Juarez Travels to San Luis, Bravas Host

El Paso Locomotive FC is set to host their first playoff match in four years on Saturday night when they host Phoenix Rising FC at Southwest University Park in the opening round of the USL Championship playoffs.

FC Juarez hit the road to face Atletico de San Luis in their penultimate regular season match on Friday night trying to get one step closer in securing another appearance in the play-in round of the playoffs for Liga BBVA MX. Meanwhile, the Bravas will host Queretaro in the final regular season match with a playoff birth on the line.

All three MountainStar Sports Group soccer teams have had good seasons in 2025 and are looking to transcend in their respective leagues to a protagonist roll when it comes to making a run in the playoffs.

Locomotive host Phoenix Rising FC playoff home match

On Saturday night El Paso Locomotive FC will host Phoenix Rising FC in their first home playoff match since 2021. El Paso will be looking to advance out of the first round for the first time since 2020. The Locomotive entered the 2025 USL Championship playoffs as the fourth seed with a total of 41 points as a result of 10 wins, 11 draws and nine loses. Phoenix is the fifth seed with 40 points as a result of nine wins, 13 draws and eight losses.

During the 2025 regular season these two teams played each other to two draws. On both occasions the road team came back from a three goal deficit to tie the match. This season the Locos scored the most goals in a single season in club history (61). Phoenix on the other hand did not allow a goal in their final three matches of the regular season (270 minutes).

Thus, the stage is set for one of the most exciting matches of the opening round of the playoffs. Both Locomotive team captain Eric Calvillo and head coach Wilmer Cabrera agreed for this to be the case when they addressed the media this past Tuesday.

El Paso Locomotive FC head coach Wilmer Cabrera said, “I see a different match (from their two previous high scoring affairs), Phoenix has not received a goal in their last three matches, they used to be a team that used to score a lot, but also concede a lot of goals. That’s changed, they’ve improved defensively. We’re going to face a difficult team, face a team that has been doing things the right way. It’s going to be a great match against a team that has not beat us nor have we been able to beat, thus it is a beautiful situation for all involved, the fans, the city and our club.”

Saturday’s match is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. MST kickoff. And as always the match will be televised on ESPN+, on KVIA.com and the KVIA news app.

FC Juarez travels to San Luis, Potsi

FC Juarez will travel to central Mexico to face Atletico de San Luis on Friday night in what will be their penultimate match of the regular season. The Bravos will be looking to get the win and obtain the 3 points that would be fundamental to securing a spot in the play-in round of the playoff for a second consecutive season.

The Bravos are coming off of a disappointing 4-4 draw at home last Friday against Puebla who scored two goals in the final eight minutes of the match and seven minutes of stoppage time to deny the Bravos of two extra points that would have kept them in the fight for a direct ticket into the playoffs, avoiding the playoff-in round altogether. While they are still mathematically alive to still qualify directly into the playoffs the chances are very slim heading into the final two matches of the regular season.

FC Juarez will face a San Luis team that is currently in 11th place in the general standings table with 16 points and aspirations to back their way into the play-in round so they will be more than motivated to get the win at home.

Things going into this game may get complicated for the team from the Borderland, in the last two days Juarez has made national headlines with national media outlets reporting that Bravos head coach/technical director Martin Varini will leave Juarez for Necaxa at the end of the season and that it is a done deal. Now it was expected that with Varnini’s contract ending at the end of the 2025 apertura season he was going to be the most sought after coach in Mexican soccer. For this news or rumor to leak at this point of the season has left a lot of people associated with the Borderland’s major league team uneasy.

It will be interesting to see how much of a distraction this is if at all for Bravos moving forward.

Fans will be able to watch Friday night’s match via stream on VIX Premium, Univision and Televisa’s streaming service.. Kickoff is at 9 p.m. MST.

Bravas play to a draw in CDMX

FC Juarez Bravas is down to their final match of the regular season, a home match versus Queretaro on Friday night. The Bravas will need to win their regular season finale to lock up the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. A draw and the Bravas will be looking for Leon and Pumas to draw when they play each other on Saturday afternoon (Leon and Pumas and in ninth and 10th place respectively). If either of the teams win and the Bravas tie or lose then they will advance to the playoffs eliminating Juarez.

For the Bravas to be in this situation is a disappointment unto itself as the Bravas have had a dismal second half of this 2025 apertura campaign highlighted by injuries to star players and disappointing results to rivals that were beneath them in the general standing table.

This development has many wondering if the head coach/technical director is in the hot seat at all due to his inability to get this team to position itself in the top spots of the league.