Juarez City.- Goalkeeper Sebastián Jurado was the star by saving two penalties, Haret Ortega had made a fool of himself by taking a penalty kick, but he received a new opportunity that he did not waste to score the goal that gave the Braves a 4-1 victory over St. Louis SC, after having tied 1-1 in regular time, and the Juarense squad took first place in West Group 3 of the 2024 Leagues Cup.
Both teams came into this match with three points and qualified for the next round, but they were fighting for the top spot in the group, which the border team achieved by adding five points, while St. Louis remained in second place with four.
The Bravos will face the second-place team in Western Group 5 in the next round, which will emerge this Monday from the duel between the Colorado Rapids and the Panzas Verdes of León.
Whoever the opponent is, the Juarez team will face them this Thursday in Colorado.
Led by Mauricio Barbieri, the FC Juárez players looked dominant for almost the entire 90 minutes, but in the first half they were unable to send the ball into the back of the net despite having generated several offensive opportunities.
A distraction by the Juarez defense on a corner kick opened the door for Simono Becher to open the scoring and give St. Louis the lead to the delight of its fans at City Park Stadium.
Missouri’s luck lasted just four minutes, as in the 62nd minute a defensive rebound put the ball at the feet of Dieter Villalpando, who dared to shoot with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area to beat goalkeeper Lundt and tie the match.
After the 90 minutes of regulation time had elapsed without the score changing again, they disputed the extra point with a penalty shootout.
Bravos took the first shot through Avilés Hurtado, who did not miss. Cedric Teuchert went first for St. Louis and Jurado guessed his shot. Francisco Calvo put Juárez ahead and Nökkvi Thorisson scored the only one for St. Louis from the 11-yard box.
Ángel Zaldívar made a powerful save to put Bravos up 3-1, Marcel Hartel telegraphed the shot too far and Jurado made the save again.
It was Haret Ortega’s turn, who had come on as a substitute in added time. He distanced himself, took a few steps, stopped and hit the ball with less force than a kindergartener, so Lundt had no problems keeping the ball.
The play was reviewed and it was determined that the St. Louis goalie had moved earlier, so the Braves defender received another opportunity, which he did not waste this time, taking a powerful shot and giving the border squad the victory.
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