FC Juarez Lose Second Straight, Star Player May Be Out All Season

FC Juarez suffered the second defeat of the season Saturday night to start the season 0-2, losing to Atlas by the score of 2-0 in Guadalajara. The Bravos have failed to accumulate a lone point on the season, making for a very grim start to the 2021 Apertura Season of the Liga BBVA MX.

Thus far the team under new head coach, Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti, has not looked the least bit promising.

In this most recent match Bravos failed to show any consistent and threatening offensive proficiency over the course of 90 minutes. Something that Ferretti was quick to acknowledge in the post match press conference.

While on the defensive side of things, the Bravos did continue to show more organization and order.

This may have been enough to at bare minimum obtain a draw on Saturday night, but it was not meant to be as in the 69th minute Julio Furch threaded a strike through a slim gap between Bravos goalkeeper Hugo Gonzalez and the near post he was defending to take the 1-0 lead.

The second goal scored in stoppage time can be considered circumstantial as Juarez was in an all-out attack to get the tie. It was then that on a breakaway Brayan Trejo would push in a cross from the right flank for the 2nd goal of the match.

It must be mentioned that the Bravos have played these two first matches of the season without 3 undeniable starters. Joaquin Esquivel and Adrian Mora are in Tokyo with the Mexican Olympic Soccer Team where they will play for a bronze medal later this week and star forward Dario Lezcano is out with a knee injury.

All three of these players are vital pieces to the Bravos starting eleven in each sector of the field of play as Mora is a center defender, Esquivel is a holding midfielder and Lezcano is the team’s leading goal scorer.

The breaking news out of Ferretti's weekly press conference on Tuesday morning was his acknowledgement that he “hopes” to have Lezcano available before this season is over. Apparently he has had a relapse in his rehab and to hear “Tuca” talk about it he may be out for the entire season. Ferretti did not elaborate any further on the situation with Lezcano, neither has the club’s front office.

Up next for the team from the Borderland will be another road match. The Bravos will return to Guadalajara, Jalisco to face Chivas on Saturday afternoon. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 4pm MST and will be televised nationally on Telemundo.