Toluca will welcome Juarez to the Estadio Nemesio Diez on Sunday in the third round of fixtures of the Liga MX 2023-24 season.
The two sides have each made positive starts to the new term with four points on the board, and both will be keen to extend unbeaten runs.
Match preview
Toluca headed into the new Liga MX season on the back of a strong domestic campaign last time around, firstly finishing sixth in the Apertura table and progressing all the way to the final with wins over Juarez, Santos Laguna and giants Club America, only to fall short at the final hurdle, as their two-legged tie with Pachuca for the trophy ended in an 8-3 aggregate defeat.
Still with renewed confidence having reached a league final for the first time since 2018, Ignacio Ambriz's side then turned their focus to the Clausura stage and again booked a knockout place in style, earning automatic quarter-final entry with a fourth-placed league finish, but they could not progress to the final four, eventually dropping out following a narrow 5-4 aggregate defeat to Tigres, despite fighting back and winning the second leg 3-1.
Fresh off their most pleasing season in recent years, the Diablos Rojos kicked off the new campaign with Ambriz still at the helm, and they began with a home contest against Nexaca, eventually putting a point on the board as neither side managed to break the deadlock.
They would then make the trip to take on Cruz Azul last weekend, and in the final 10 minutes of the first half, the Diablos Rojos went ahead through goalkeeper Tiago Volpi's penalty and saw their hosts reduced to 10 men, before Juan Pablo Dominguez wrapped up a 2-0 away triumph with a goal in injury time at the end of the contest.
Now with four points on the board and having not yet conceded, Toluca will hope to turn their positive start into a platform for the remainder of the Apertura campaign in the coming weeks, starting with a second straight victory at the weekend.
They face a tough test, though, as Juarez also arrive on the back of an encouraging start to the domestic season.
Los Bravos did also earn a reclassification place in last year's Apertura competition following an 11th-placed finish, but their knockout campaign was abruptly ended by a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Sunday's opponents.
The Clausura phase did not go any better for them either, as they finished 16th in the 18-team division, having managed just 15 points from their 17 outings, before turning their attention to the new campaign under the management of Diego Mejia.
Los Bravos were handed a particularly tough start to the term, beginning with a trip to Club America on the opening day, and after trailing 1-0 heading into the final minutes, they would defy the odds and turn the contest on its head in dramatic fashion, drawing level in the 86th minute through Aitor Garcia before Angel Zapata netted a winner in the fifth minute of added time.
They followed that up with another difficult test at home to Tigres last time out, and after again finding themselves a goal down, Mejia's men salvaged a commendable point from a 1-1 draw through Amaury Escoto's equaliser 13 minutes from time.
Having come out of two particularly difficult fixtures with four points, Juarez should certainly have some confidence in the camp, but their job does not get much easier against a Toluca team with momentum of their own.
- D
- W
- W
- D
Team News
Toluca should come into Sunday's home game with an unchanged starting XI from their win last time out, and Ambriz should certainly refrain from tampering with the defence in particular following another clean sheet, with Brian Garcia, Andres Mosquera, Valber Huerta and Mauricio Isais all bound to keep their places.
The Diablos Rojos headed into the new term without both of last year's joint-top scorers, following the off-season departures of Camilo Sanvezzo and Carlos Gonzalez, both of whom netted 11 goals, and Ivan Lopez and Robert Morales should again form a new-look front two at the weekend.
Juan Pablo Dominguez will also hope to cause problems going forward from the right wing, after opening his account for the season last time out, while Marcel Ruiz should again join Jesus Venegas in the engine room.
Juarez only made one change between their opening two games of the league season, as Denzell Garcia displaced Cesar Sosa Heredia in midfield, and we could see the same starting lineup on Sunday from last week in a 4-4-1-1 shape.
They are also without last season's top scorer, after Gabriel Fernandez's loan spell came to an end, and Aviles Hurtado should again lead the line with support through the middle from Aitor Garcia, who opened his account for the term in their curtain-raiser.
Garcia should again play alongside Javier Salas in the engine room, while Jose Garcia and Haret Ortega will partner up in the middle of the back four.
Toluca possible starting lineup:
Volpi; Garcia, Mosquera, Huerta, Isais; Dominguez, Ruiz, Venegas, Araujo; Lopez, Morales
Juarez possible starting lineup:
Talavera; Rodriguez, J Garcia, Ortega, Cruz; Chavez, Salas, D Garcia, Saucedo; A Garcia, Hurtado