FC Juarez Finally Has Some Luck En-route To Win Over San Luis

Bravos de FC Juarez picked up their second victory of the 2022 clausura season last Thursday night defeating Atletico San Luis by the score of 1-0 on the road. The win, the Bravos second in three matches, places them currently in fifth place of the general standings table. It is a fantastic start to the season for the team led by Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti, in fact it is the best they have had since they moved up to Liga BBVA MX.

Cutting to the chase, this most recent victory by Bravos can simply be labeled as lucky…and there is NOTHING wrong with that. FC Juarez has had more than its fair share of bad luck since they moved up to Mexico’s premier soccer division leading to disappointing results.

It was about time that good fortune was on their side that allowed them to obtain a win.

FC Juarez went into Thursday’s match with a depleted attack. Forwards Diego Rolan, Gabriel Fernandez and Dario Lezcano were out due to injury leaving Fabian Castillo to be their only offensive threat. Castillo went out in the 36th minute with a pulled muscle. Minutes later goalkeeper Hugo Gonzalez would also exit due to a similar injury for Juarez.

Things seemed more than bleak for the team from the Borderland when they were awarded with a penalty kick in the sixth of seven minutes of stoppage time that were given by referee Erick Miranda. In addition, Javier Guemez would receive a direct red card for the foul, leaving the home team with only 10 men for the remainder of the match.

Matias “Caco” Garcia opted to take the kick for the Bravos but it was blocked by San Luis goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero.

Despite being one man down, it would appear that the second half would favor San Luis especially since FC Juarez had zero attack to speak of. The complimentary 45 minutes had little excitement, until in the 78th minute, on one of the few corner kicks that the Bravos had, Unai Bilbao was called for a handball inside of San Luis’ goal box thus awarding Juarez with a second penalty kick.

This time it was Anderson Leite that would take the kick from 11 meters away and score the match’s only goal. In a match in which neither team deserved to win, hell, the point received for a draw didn’t seem deserving either, the Bravos somehow found themselves with a win and the three points that go with it in their back pocket.

While the win may have been over arguably the worst team in the league at the moment, (San Luis has failed to score a lone goal in their first three matches of the season.) for FC Juarez they need to accumulate points in any way, shape or form and it doesn’t matter against who.

The Bravos now have two full weeks (thanks to the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers) to rest, prepare, get as healthy as possible and improve as much as possible for their next opponent. The Bravos will host Chivas de Guadalajara next Saturday, February 5th at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. The most popular team in Mexican soccer is always an enormous draw and a sellout is expected.

The match is scheduled to kickoff at 8 p.m. MST and will be televised nationally on TUDN.