FC Juárez vs Pachuca Play-in For the Final Liga MX Apertura Place | OneFootball

Sunday evening will see FC Juárez and Pachuca compete for the eighth and final seed going into the Liga MX Apertura Liguilla.

This comes after the first round of Play-In fixtures last Thursday, which saw Los Bravos miss out on the chance to claim automatic qualification following a 3-1 loss to Tijuana. Pachuca marked their victory over Pumas with stunning strikes from Enner Valencia and Brazilian winger Kenedy.

Only one team can make it into the final eight, but whoever does come out on top on Sunday will have the uphill task of facing the top seed and reigning Liga MX champions Toluca in the next round.

Head-to-Head Record

In the last five meetings, Pachuca have a slight advantage, winning two matches, losing once and drawing twice. But despite this edge Los Tuzos have failed to get the better of their weekend hosts in any of the last three meetings.

When the two sides met on Matchday 13, very little could separate them. Three goals in the first half gave Juárez a 2-1 lead heading into the break, but Jesús Murillo’s second-half own goal earned Pachuca a point on the road.

The result matched the outcome of when the sides faced each other at the end of the 2025 Clausura campaign. That time around, Los Bravos raced into a two-goal lead in the first half, before Pachuca responded after the break through Kenedy and Salómon Rondón, who has since left the club for newly promoted La Liga side Real Oviedo.

Team News

The hosts for this playoff decider (Juárez) will be without Manuel Mayorga, who received a straight red card during the defeat to Tijuana for a foul on Ramiro Arciga to prevent a goal-scoring opportunity. As far as injuries go, Juárez will conduct final checks on Moises Mosquera, who missed their meeting with Los Xolos and seems to remain a doubt for the showdown with Pachuca.

Pachuca will be the busier of the two to ensure the fitness of some key names, with Enner Valencia a doubt after picking up a thigh injury in the win over Pumas, whilst aiming to bring star midfielder Eliás Montiel back from a knee injury which has kept him out of a Tuzos shirt since September, when they met Cruz Azul on matchday 8.

Form Book

Heading into the Liga MX Play-In, Pachuca failed to win any of its final five matches, resulting in the dismissal of manager Jaime Lozano. In that time, they suffered three defeats – against Tigres, Chivas and Santos Laguna.

Form for Los Bravos doesn’t make for much better reading, with the border side winning just one of their final five games, a victory secured by a 98th-minute goal from Óscar Estupiñán against San Luis. Their end-of-season results also included a dramatic 4–4 draw with bottom-of-the-table Puebla and a 2–1 loss to Querétaro.

Who to Watch Out For?

If Juárez have any ambition of reaching the final eight, they will need to rely on the goals of Óscar Estupiñán, who has contributed nine goals in 14 appearances so far. Defensively, only Necaxa and Mazatlán kept fewer clean sheets during the regular season, so they will be hoping to outscore Pachuca this weekend to secure qualification.

As for Pachcua, goals have been well-spread but the one to watch is their Brazilian loanee Kenedy. Having scored four goals in the regular season, the 29-year-old caused havoc in the win over Pumas and is in fine-form, looking to send Los Tuzos to the playoffs.