Match recap: FC Juárez 0, Club Tijuana 0

Club Tijuana and FC Juárez played to an even 0-0 draw Friday night in Ciudad Juárez. Goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco lead Xolos to their second straight shutout, while Enrique Palos and Los Bravos got their first shutout of the year. Both teams will enter Week 3 with just two points.

Juárez wasted no time in getting their offense going, forcing a mad scramble in the box in the second minute of play that Orozco was somehow able to come up with. Tijuana however was able to gain possession but couldn’t find much momentum to go with it. Xolos were able to get off a few shots early in the match, but they were all hopeful efforts from long range.

At the other end, Juárez almost struck in the 23rd minute when Francisco Contreras hit a shot from the edge of the box that Orozco did well to turn aside. In the 33rd, Dario Lezcano almost capitalized on Orozco’s tendency to come way off of his line to challenge shooters, but Lezcano’s touch was just soft enough that Orozco was able to chase the ball down and stop it.

In the 44th minute, Juárez got a good breakaway but Eduardo Tercero made a sliding tackle on Jefferson Intriago just outside of the box to stop the break, picking up a professional yellow card for his troubles. Off of the resulting corner kick, Dario Lezcano hit a shot through traffic that Orozco was positioned perfectly to stop. Juárez was finally able to gain some momentum, but luckily for Xolos the whistle came for halftime.

In the second half, neither team had a clear advantage. Juárez kept possession a little better, but both teams had difficulty in the final third. Juárez had two shots blocked deep in the 54th minute, as Xolos did well to collapse defensively into shape. Orozco made another fine save in the 67th minute to keep things level. In the 75th though Orozco would come off of his line and do a sliding tackle on Lezcano, and the referee didn’t hesitate to award a penalty. Lezcano then stepped up, feinted, and nailed a shot off of the crossbar that was recovered by Xolos and scrambled away.

As the seconds waned, both teams tried pushing forward some but neither found enough to make anything happen. Tired legs produced mostly heavy touches and ill-advised shots, and in the end the teams would be forced to settle for a scoreless draw.

Juárez will travel to CDMX to play Club América on Saturday while Xolos will play another road game next week, facing Puebla at Estadio Cuauhtémoc on Friday.

FC Juárez: Enrique Palos; Alberto Acosta, Hedgardo Marín, Gustavo Velázquez, Luis López; Francisco Contreras, Joaquín Esquivel, Jefferson Intriago; Flavio Santos (Eryc Castillo, 67’), Dario Lezcano, Ayron Del Valle (Blas Amroa, 83’)

Club Tijuana: Jonathan Orozco; Brayan Angulo (Jaime Gómez, 45’), Eduardo Tercero, Gonzalo Jara, Vladimir Loroña; Esteban Pavez, Junior Sornoza (Fidel Martínez, 79’), David Barbona, Fabián Castillo (Marcel Ruiz, 69’); Miguel Sansores (Edgar López, 77’), Mauro Manotas (Christian Rivera, 70’)

Scoring: FC Juárez - None; Club Tijuana - None

Disciplinary: FC Juárez - Dario Lezcano (Yellow - 63’); Club Tijuana - Brayan Angulo (Yellow - 10’), Eduardo Tercero (Yellow - 43’), Junior Sornoza (Yellow - 71’)