Bravos, Locos, and Bravas Look for Continued Success This Weekend
FC Juarez men and women and El Paso Locomotive FC will be back in action this weekend and look to continue to keep their current competitive form, one that has brought them success in recent outings.
The Bravos and Locomotive will hit the road traveling to Mexico City and the southern United States respectively while the Bravas will play host at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. The Bravos will play on Saturday evening while both the Locos and Bravas will play on Sunday afternoon.
Bravos face Pumas at Mexico’s national university
The Bravos will make a weekend trek to Mexico City to face one of the most historic teams in Mexican soccer, Pumas UNAM. The Bravos are unbeaten in their last three matches, last weekend Bravas traveled to Guadalajara and played Atlas to a 1-1 draw. FC Juarez was the better team then and most would argue undeserving of the tie.
After the match, head coach/technical director Martin Varini spoke about the fact that after Atlas got the equalizer Juarez lost control of the match and it was unexpectedly tough for Bravos to close out the match. Varini was also quick to point out that his team currently finds itself in bit of uncharted territory, solidly in the fight for a playoff spot, which speaks to the type of season the Bravos are having. The youngest coach in Liga BBVA MX concluded by saying that his most recent result and the point that comes with it only helps with the team’s position in the standing table.
On Saturday evening Juarez will face a Pumas this one spot behind in the standings table, 10th place, with 17 points as result of five wins, two draws and seven loses. It will be interesting to see how the fact that Pumas played this past Wednesday (playing to a 2-2 draw against Vancouver Whitecaps; eliminating Pumas) in a CONCACAF Champions Cup match will affect them in their match against Bravos. Perhaps this is something that the team from the Borderland can capitalize on.
Saturday’s match is scheduled for a 5 p.m. MST kickoff and will be televised nationally on two networks, Univision and TUDN and on VIX, Televisa/Univision’s streaming platform.
Locomotive travel south the face Legion
El Paso Locomotive FC will take their three match winning streak into the land of Dixie this coming Sunday when they pay a visit to the Brimingham Legion. The match in Alabama will mark the start of a week in which the Locos will have three matches on the road. El Paso has won their last two USL Championship league matches and a U.S. Open Cup win in the last two weeks since suffering their first loss of the season to New Mexico United back on March 22nd.
El Paso will face a Birmingham Legion team who is winless thus far this season, having two draws and two defeats in their first four matches of the season. They currently sit in 10th place in the eastern conference.
This past Tuesday Locomotive head coach Wilmer Cabrera spoke with the media ahead of a week in which El Paso will travel to Birmingham for a match on Sunday, Albuquerque for a cup match against New Mexico United on Wednesday and then Colorado Springs for another league match on Saturday.
With regard to week that lay ahead Cabrera said, “A Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday schedule will make it tougher, but we’re not going to make excuses. We are going to seek out positive results, but the objective for now is to think about Sunday, go and win in Birmingham. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be difficult, but we have a team that is ready to compete against any team in the USL.”
Cabrera was hesitant to comment about Wednesday’s match against bitter rival New Mexico United, stating that the sole focus at the moment is on the Legion for Sunday’s match.
Finally the Locos second year coach made it clear that if Locomotive wants to accomplish its objective of being one of the best teams in the USL, consistency will be the key.
Sunday’s 3 p.m. MST match will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
Bravas host San Luis in a must win match
FC Juarez Bravas will host Atletico San Luis on Sunday evening in their next to last match of the 2025 clausura season. It will be the first match since the end of the month as the league took a two week hiatus due to FIFA international break. The Bravas are coming off of a valiant scoreless draw to Tigres on the road in San Nicolas de los Garza that helped maintain them in the playoff zone going into the break .
Sunday’s match sets up as a vital match for FC Juarez to solidify their place in the playoffs going into the season final. The Bravas will face a team in San Luis that is in 14th place in the general standing table with 16 points on the season and are all but eliminated from playoff contention. As for the Bravas they are in seventh place with 22 points as result of six wins, five draws and four loses. The problem they have is there are five teams behind them only five points away. All of them vying for the final two of eight playoff spots with 2 matches to go in the season. This makes the match versus San Luis, a team that has had a tough season, practically a must win match.
The penultimate match of the season for the Bravas is scheduled for a 5 p.m. MST kickoff. The match will be televised nationally on Fox Deportes.