
Locomotive Come Up Short and Bravos Face Pumas Tonight
El Paso Locomotive FC and FC Juarez both suffered defeats over this past weekend in their respective regular season matches. Locomotive fell to Las Vegas Lights at home by the score of 2-0, while the Bravos lost to Toluca on the road by the score of 3-2.
El Paso will return to action this coming weekend, meanwhile the Bravos will have a quick turnaround as they will face Pumas tonight in a midweek match at home. The Wednesday match at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium will mark the third match of the 2024 Apertura season.
El Paso begins second half of the season with a loss
The defeat the Locos suffered last Friday night to the Las Vegas Lights was not the way they wanted to begin the second half of the season, especially with the largest attendance of the season, 6,727 fans made their way to Southwest University Park. El Paso was the better team in the first half. They looked solid, disciplined and created threats on the goal. At halftime the score was 0-0.
Two lapses of concentration in the second half marked the difference in this match. A cross in the defensive sector fell short led to a turnover that quickly turned into a counterattack in the 62nd minute. The lights came down the left flank making their way to the Locomotive goalbox. From there a series of blocked shots and rebounds occurred with El Paso failing to clear the ball, it rolled right to Coleman Gannon who was able to take a right footed strike that found the back of the net. The Locomotive defense completely froze.
Nineteen minutes later El Paso defenseman Lucas Stauffer scored an own goal when an attack came from the right flank. The player from Las Vegas sent in a cross that found Stauffer's foot and rolled past Locomotive goalkeeper Jahmali Waite.
After the match, Locomotive head coach Wilmer Cabrera was very astute in his comments. Few fans could disagree with his analysis of the match that was. “Our idea continues to be to defend well with a solid defensive block, make quick transitions and exploit their open spaces. We have various opportunities to do just that, we created chances on goal, we just didn’t take full advantage of the situations.” the head coach said.
Cabrera continued, “Unfortunately in the second half we had two turnovers and we were punished for it.”
As for any silver lining to the result, Cabrera said, “For a majority of the match we defended well and when we created chances on goal they were clear threats to score and take the lead. That means we were capable of executing our game plan. The difference is they were able to put the ball in the back of the net when they had their chances and we were not.”
El Paso remains in last place in the western conference and is in dire need of obtaining points so the playoff zone doesn't’ get too out of reach for them. The Locos are currently 12 points behind the last team in the playoff zone which is currently Orange County SC.
The next match for Locomotive will be this Friday versus Phoenix Rising FC in the Valley of the Sun. on Friday night. The match will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
Bravos lose a back and forth match to Toluca
On Saturday night FC Juarez lost to Toluca by the score of 3-2. In what turned out to be one of the most exciting matches in week 2 in the Liga BBVA MX, Joao Paulo Dias scored two goals and was the star of the night for the ‘Red Devils’ who obtained their first win of the season.
The home team took an early 2-0 lead. Dias scored in the 10 minute of the match, then Bravos center defender, Moises Mosquera, had an own goal seven minutes later. The score remained 2-0 at halftime.
FC Juarez came out on fire in the second half and was able to tie the match in the first nine minutes of the match. Jesus Venegas scored on three minutes into the start of the second half when he was able to connect via a sliding kick with a cross that came from the left flank. Six minutes later Angel Zaldivar scored the equalizer when he received a pass just inside the opposing goal box on the right side, he was able to shake off a defender to take a left footed strike that found the back of the net.
That match winner for Toluca came in the 71st minute when a series of give and go’s ended w/ Dias receiving the ball around the penalty kick spot and putting it in the back of the net.
Bravos have a quick turnaround, face Pumas tonight
The Bravos will have to keep looking forward despite their first loss of the season as they will host Pumas tonight at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. FC Juarez will continue to look for its first win of the season. Meanwhile the Pumas come into the Borderland undefeated, winning their first match of the season, defeating Leon 4-1 at home. This past weekend Pumas tied against Santos on the road 1-1.
Tonight’s match will mark the return of Bravos head coach, Mauricio Barbieri to the Bravos bench after serving his one game suspension for a red card he received in the opening match of the season against Atlas.
It will be interesting to see if center defender Moises Mosquera sees any action tonight as his decision making and mistakes have hindered the Bravos heavily in the first two matches this season.
Tonight’s match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. MST kickoff, and will be televised nationally on Fox Deportes.
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Gallery Credit: Ruben Ramirez and UTEP Athletics.