Two halves of end-to-end soccer were not enough to determine a winner between St Louis CITY SC and FC Juárez Sunday night at CITYPARK in St. Louis. After the game ended in a 1-1 draw after regulation, the Group West 3 finale came down to penalty kicks, where Juárez prevailed 4-1, to win the group, and advance to the round of 32 for the second year in a row.
The first half was dominated by Juarez in every way but the scoreline. Los Bravos out-possessed, out-passed, and out-shot St. Louis 15-7. When they did have the ball, St. Louis were a problem for Juárez.
Despite the shot disparity, both teams had several good chances to open the scoring in the first half. The best for each side were plays that were eerily similar. In the 32nd minute, CITY had a series of chances that culminated with Diego Capillo clearing Cedric Teuchert’s shot off the line.
Nine minutes later, Juarez’ Aitor García, who had five shots in the first half, had his blast cleared off the line by Kyle Hiebert.
The second half started with St. Louis dictating more of the action, and they took the lead in the 58th when Simon Becher beat goalkeeper Sebastián Jurado to the near post off a corner kick. It was Becher’s first goal in CITY uniform.
It did not take long for Juárez to put things back on level terms, though. Dieter Villalpando collected a loose ball on the right corner of the box and sent his shot through a forest of STL legs into the corner of the net.
After the equalizer, Juárez took control of the game again and appeared to finish every possession with a shot. They would end up with 23 shots total, eight of which were on frame.
St. Louis was able to generate a few counters, but most were cut off by the Bravos defense before they plays developed further. Juárez had the best chance at the end of the half, as Jairo Torres had one last effort that was turned away by German goalkeeper Benjamin Lundt. Off to penalties they went.
Juárez was up first, and second half sub Avilés Hurtado sneaked his shot past Lundt. Teuchert was up next for STL and was goaded by Jurado to kick to the left. Teuchert did, and Jurado stopped the shot. Francsico Calvo scored similarly to Hurtado, and Nökkvi Thórisson got CITY on the board by slamming a shot past Jurado, right where Jurado was suggesting he kick it. Ángel Zaldívar was true for Juárez, but Marcel Hartel was not for St. Louis. It came down to Haret Ortega, who got a reprieve when Lundt was judged to be off his line on Ortega’s first attempt. He did not miss his second.
“We acquitted ourselves well, we had a lot of the possession, we generated scoring opportunities.” Juárez coach Mauricio Barbieri stated after the match. “And in the end, if there was to be any justice, and we all know that in soccer a lot of times there isn’t any, justice was served.” He added.
The win clinches the group for Juárez, who will now face either León or Colorado Rapids. Despite finishing second in the group, St. Louis will host Group West 5 winners Portland due to their higher seed.
