Stars Align, Results Fall the Right Way and FC Juarez is Playoff Bound

Three of four things had to happen this past weekend in order for Bravos de FC Juarez to make it to the playoffs for the first time in club history since joining Liga BBVA MX.

The Bravos hosted Pumas on Friday night at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. They needed nothing less than a win over Pumas and for two of three other teams to lose their matches in their regular season finale.

Well, all four happened.

FC Juarez defeated Pumas 3-1 on Friday night in front of a sold out crowd at the stadium on the banks of the Rio Grande. Saturday afternoon Tigres defeated San Luis 3-0 and later that evening Atlas defeated Necaxa 1-0.

Those two results locked the Bravos in the one-match "wild card" playoff round.

Just in case the Juarez needed it, Mazatlan lost to Santos 3-0 on Sunday evening. Sunday the league made the wild card pairings official, Bravos will face Toluca on the road, with the date and time to be determined.

Later today, members from the front office of the teams that will participate in the wild card round will have a meeting via Zoom with Liga BBVA MX officials to determine the date and times for these opening round matches. The league is then set to announce these dates and times shortly thereafter.

Bravos win regular season finale

The atmosphere was one to be remembered on Friday night at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium as FC Juarez was able to do what it needed to to in order to keep its playoff hopes alive, defeating Pumas 3-1.

Jesus Duenas scored in only the fourth minute of the game.

Pumas got the equalizer in the 33rd minute, but the Bravos retook the lead only nine minutes later as Gabriel Fernandez scored the goal gave Juarez the 2-1 lead.

The goal that secured the win for the Bravos would not come until stoppage time in the second half when Alan Medina scored on a breakaway in the 96th minute of the game.

New head coach Hernan Cristante happy with the season

After Friday’s match FC Juarez head coach/technical director Hernan Cristate said in his post match comments, “Obviously I’m happy for the win, we saw early in the match that the match would possibly transcend in the way that it did. It was a win against a team that has not had a good season, but nonetheless is a very difficult team.”

Cristante continued, “I’m happy for the win. It leaves me happy and calm. It is a win that puts a cap on the season, but also a win that gives us plenty of stability. Now oddly enough with 19 points on the season we have a chance to make it into the wild card round, now we have to suffer while watching three matches tomorrow and Sunday and wait on those outcomes.”

Fortunately, those results all fell in favor of Juarez.