Toluca made light work of Juárez at the Estadio Nemecio Dies on Sunday, running out 4-0 winners in the sixth round of the Liga MX Apertura. The hosts moved up to fifth with ten points, while Juárez remain rooted to bottom place with zero from five matches. It was a comfortable afternoon for the home side, who had already beaten Austin 2-0 just four days earlier.
And here's the thing about how it started — Helinho struck after ten minutes, the earliest marker of the evening. Juárez thought they had equalised through O. Virgen seventeen minutes in, but the goal was cancelled by VAR. The visitors were then punished from a corner thirty-four minutes later when J. Murillo turned it into his own net. Helinho picked up a yellow card thirty-five minutes in, the first booking of the match.
The second half opened with a flurry of changes at both ends, A. Vega and F. Pereira coming on for Toluca at the break. Juárez brought on Monchu and Nevarez Pulgarin's replacement at sixty-five minutes, but the damage was already done. O. Virgen finally got his goal seventy-three minutes in, cancelling out the VAR decision from the first half. F. Vinas added a fourth seventy-nine minutes in, and by then the contest was beyond dispute.
Toluca handed a debut to F. Romero at seventy minutes, while Juárez made three substitutions in quick succession at the eighty-one-minute mark — J. Rodriguez, O. Estupinan and O. Virgen all came off together. The home side kept their side in it throughout, playing the second half a man up in terms of control if not numbers. G. Sepulveda was among the away changes at seventy-four minutes, but there was nothing to change.
The statistics tell the full story. Toluca held sixty-five percent possession and created four big chances from thirteen attacks. Their expected goals figure sat at 3.19, while Juárez managed just 0.16 from seven attacks. Toluca registered nine shots on target to the visitors' two, and their twenty shots within the penalty area told the tale of dominance.
The result leaves Toluca fifth with ten points from five games, three wins and a draw. Juárez sit eighteenth with no points from five defeats, their recent run including a 6-1 loss to Monterrey and a 3-0 defeat to Real Salt Lake. The table goes out of the window in these games, but Juárez need the points badly. This was a result that kept Toluca moving forward while dragging Juárez further down.
