Following a dramatic opening victory last week, Juarez have a chance to defeat Tigres for the first time, when the two teams square off on matchday two of the Liga MX Apertura campaign this Saturday.
Last week, Los Bravos stunned Club America with two goals beyond the 85th minute, winning 2-1, while the reigning Clausura champions salvaged a point in their home opener with an injury-time strike, drawing Puebla 1-1.
Match preview
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It was a busy off-season for Juarez, who added 10 new faces to their roster ahead of the new Apertura season, with the club coming off a rough 2023 Clausura campaign in which they finished 16th with only 15 points from 17 games.
That dramatic victory on matchday one ended an 11-game domestic winless run for this team, and it was also the first victory for Diego Mejia as their manager in Liga MX.
In their 2022 Apertura campaign, Juarez finally qualified for the reclassification thanks to their solid form at home, which is where 11 of their 19 points occurred.
While they have never beaten Tigres in a competitive fixture, most of their matches against them have been there for the taking, with Los Bravos losing five of six meetings by a single goal, while two of the other three games were draws.
Juarez came back to earn points at home on three occasions in the 2022 Apertura season, winning their final two first-phase matches at Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez.
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Fresh off an eighth Clausura title, Tigres will be expected to contend for the Apertura crown in 2023, a championship they have not claimed since 2017.
Los Auriazules failed to win their opening Apertura fixture last weekend for a second successive season, though they came back to earn a point after conceding the opener, something they could only do once in the first phase of this competition last year.
The reigning Campeon de Campeones champions went winless in their final three Clausura affairs away from home last season, failing to score in two of those encounters.
Under the leadership of ex-goalkeeper and Tigres fan-favourite Robert Siboldi since April, this team have only suffered one defeat in all competitions, conceding a goal or fewer in four of those encounters.
Tigres have won all four of their visits to Juarez by a single goal and they did not concede in the opening half against them in any of those meetings.
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Team News
Manuel Castro might not be available for Juarez until late July because of a knee injury, while some of the new additions like Diego Campillo, Francisco Reyes and Aldo Cruz were healthy scratches in their season opener.
Aitor Garcia and Angel Zapata made strong first impressions with their new team, as they each found the back of the net in their victory last Friday, while fellow newcomers Sebastian Saucedo, Haret Ortega and Aviles Hurtado were in the starting 11, with Sebastian Perez Bouquet and Amaury Escoto making their debuts from the substitutes bench.
Captain Alfredo Talavera stopped all nine shots fired his way in their previous league fixture versus Tigres to pick up a clean sheet in their 0-0 draw away from home.
Los Auriazules will be without David Ayala until late August because of a sore knee cap, Miguel Ortega is not expected to return from his shoulder injury until early September, Sebastian Cordova missed the last match through suspension and Diego Lainez is still with the Mexican national team at the Gold Cup.
Nicolas Ibanez notched his first of the season, enabling Tigres to draw their opening Apertura fixture this year, while their big signing Eugenio Pizzuto made his first appearance, replacing Juan Pablo Vigon with fewer than 20 minutes remaining.
Andre-Pierre Gignac has five goals in his career versus Juarez as the Frenchman buried a nice feed from Javier Aquino in their previous visit there last year, which they won 1-0, when Nahuel Guzman only had to make two stops for the shutout.
Juarez possible starting lineup:
Talavera; Rodriguez, J. Garcia, H. Ortega, Cruz; Escoto, Zapata, Salas, Saucedo; A. Garcia, Hurtado
Tigres possible starting lineup:
Guzman; Aquino, Pizarro, Reyes, Garza; Cordova, Carioca; Quinones, Pizzuto, Lopez; Gignac
We say: Juarez 0-2 Tigres
Defeating a quality side like Club America is a big achievement for a relatively new Liga MX club like Juarez, but we expect them to have a let-down against an experienced team in Tigres, who rarely have consecutive poor performances in this competition.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
