Match Recap: FC Juárez 1, Club Puebla 0

Darío Lezcano bundled a pinpoint pass from Flavio Santos into the back of the net in the seventh minute to give FC Juárez what would eventually become their second consecutive victory of the Guard1anes 2020 season.

It didn’t take long at all for the chances to come rolling in for both teams in this match. Just two minutes into the proceedings, FC Juárez goalkeeper Enrique Palos was forced to make a phenomenal diving save to deny a point blank header, one that seemed destined to find the back of the net and give Club Puebla an early lead. Less then a minute after Palos’ diving save, Puebla were once again inches away from scoring. This time a shot from inside the box was deflected just wide of the left goalpost.

Following a lackluster corner from Puebla, Los Bravos found themselves on a counterattack. Jefferson Intriago received the ball in the midfield and calmly played a lofted ball to Flavio Santos on the right wing. Santos raced into the space ahead of him and picked out Darío Lezcano in the center of the area and the Paraguayan striker somehow managed to bundle the ball into the back of the net despite being flanked by two defenders. The goal was Lezcano’s fifth of the season and the ninth for the borderland club.

Following the goal, FC Juárez found themselves in complete control of the match. There seemed to be acres of space for the midfielders and attackers to run into whenever they received the ball. In spite of this, Los Bravos were not able to add another goal before the end of the first half. It looked as though the final ball was missing. Instead of picking out a pass that would have unlocked the defense, the FC Juárez midfielder or striker seemed to sit on the ball for just a second too long or fire a tame shot towards goal from outside the area.

The second half was an extremely chippy affair that saw a total of five yellow cards awarded between the two sides. As if this wasn’t bad enough, neither team seemed capable of holding the ball for more than a few seconds. Puebla would get into a dangerous attacking possession, would lose the ball and then FC Juárez would clumsily attempt to counterattack before inevitably giving the ball right back. To call the vast majority of the second half anything other than sloppy would be a massive understatement.

It wasn’t until the final 15 minutes of the match that either team really looked like finding the back of the net. It was at this point, after making all five of their allotted substitutions, that Club Puebla began to throw players forward in the attack. In spite of this, la Franja never really managed to trouble Juárez goalkeeper Enrique Palos. Most of the attacks fizzled out or resulted in lame duck crosses that were fairly easily handled by Palos.

In the end, it was Darío Lezcano’s seventh minute goal that ended up being the difference in the match. In spite of playing far from their best match, FC Juárez was able to secure their third victory of the season (second consecutive) and jump to eighth place in the table with 13 points.

FC Juárez travels to Tijuana to take on los Xolos in their next match while Puebla travels to Aguascalientes to take on Necaxa.

FC Juárez - Enrique Palos, Alberto Acosta, Gustavo Velázquez, Bruno Romo, Maxi Olivera, Jefferson Intriago, Jesús Zavala, Eryc Castillo (Mauro Fernandez 65’), Flavio Santos (Martín Rabuñal 64’), Marco Fabián (Alan Mendoza 85’), Darío Lezcano

Puebla - Jesús Rodriguez, Brayan Angulo (Lalo Herrera 74’), Maximiliano Perg (Osvaldo Martinez 73’), Emanuel Gularte, Israel Reyes Romo (Aumary Escoto 46’), Daniel Aguilar, Alejandro Chumacero (Salvador Reyes 65’), Christian Tabo, Omar Fernández, Pablo González, Bernardo Cuesta (Nestor Vidrio 65’)

Scoring: FC Juárez - Darío Lezcano (7’)

Disciplinary: FC Juárez - Martin Rabuñal (Yellow - 85’), Alan Mendoza (Yellow - 90+2’); Club Puebla - Israel Reyes Romo (Yellow - 41’), Emanuel Gularte (Yellow - 55’), Maximiliano Perg (Yellow - 69’), Néstor Vidrio (Yellow - 83’)