Toluca 2, Juárez 3
The Bravos from the border town of Cd. Juárez provided the second giant upset of the Copa MX with a shocking come-from-behind win at Toluca. Last week, Atlético San Luis surprised Tigres 2-1 at home.
That Juárez clawed its way back from an early 2-0 deficit on the road made this result particularly remarkable.
Fifteen minutes in, Luis “Quick” Mendoza fed Adolfo Domínguez a through ball into the box and Domínguez cut a pass back to Mendoza’s feet. “Quick” danced around a defender and firmly right-footed a shot past the goalie.
Two minutes later, the Bravos turned the ball over in their own end and Kevin Castañeda made them pay with a low bullet just inside the goalie’s right post. Toluca kept the pressure on and seemed certain to turn the game into a rout but couldn’t manage to put the scrappy Bravos away.
Juárez didn’t create a scoring chance until minute 35, but two minutes later, striker Leandro Carrijo redirected a low cross with his knee and found the back of the net. Suddenly, it was game on.
The second half opened with a steady flow of opportunities for both teams and twenty-two minutes after the restart the Bravos found the equalizer. Josué Gómez was the beneficiary of a beautiful triangulation and he chased Carrijo’s wall pass into the box and squirted a low, left-footer back toward the far post that goalie Luis Manuel García could not stop.
Juárez keeper Iván Mellado preserved the tie in minute 75, diving to his left to parry aside a blast by Javier Cabrera that was ticketed for the far post. Six minutes later, “Quick” Mendoza sent a free kick just on the wrong side of the right post.
The Bravos pressed forward and found the winner in minute 82 with Toluca defender Fernando Tobio playing the goat. A Juárez free kick soared deep into the right side of the box where Elson Días recentered into the scrum. Tobio appeared to be trying to duck out-of-the-way to allow his keeper to collect the ball but it skimmed off his head and into the net.
Juárez now leads Group 2 with 4 points, ahead of Tijuana with 1 and Toluca trails with 0. Tijuana hosts Toluca on Aug. 8.