Southwest University Park will always be special for Benny Diaz.
The 26-year-old keeper for FC Juarez was back in El Paso recently to promote his club’s July 5 friendly against Santos Laguna, it’s final tuneup for the Liga MX regular season, and being back at the park where he was a standout in 2023 brought memories flooding back.
Two years ago he was under contract with Liga MX team FC Tijuana, but as a practical matter he was on loan to the El Paso Locomotive, an every game starter in front of goal looking to make enough of an impression to give him another shot at the big time.
That he’s here with FC Juarez, a team coming off its best season in its history, and speaking before assembled local reporters to promote the next match, speaks to how well that went.
“Southwest University Park is beautiful and I had a great time with the Locomotive,” said Diaz, a California native, who has played much of his career in Mexico. “They got me where I am today. They were my trampoline.
“I had to take a step down a division from Tijuana to come here. The confidence I got playing here — we made it to the quarterfinals, we had a great season — that’s what led me to be back on a first-division team. I’m always going to be grateful.”
Diaz played four games for FC Juarez last year on loan from Tijuana, then signed with the Bravos in the offseason.
FC Juarez is figuratively in a different place now as well. The Bravos were poor in 2023, their fourth season in Liga MX and a perennial cellar dweller. Now they are looking to build on the success of making the play-in in last spring’s Clausura, where they lost in penalties to Pumas.
This is a team that looks to be on an upward trajectory.
“You always try to evolve, to grow,” Diaz said. “Take everything we did in that record-breaking season and do better. Learn from our bad games and from our really good games.
“It’s a big challenge we want to take to do better. We took 24 points last year, why not look for 28? We made a wild-card game, now how about the first time making quarterfinals? The team, you can feel the chemistry, you can feel the family. We are pushing toward the same objective.”
A big offseason addition looking to help the Bravos take that next step is Rodolfo Pizarro, an attacking midfielder who has played for the Mexican national team and was with Inter Miami from 2020-23.
“I’m really motivated to be here,” Pizarro said. “I want to add my experience, my courage to play. I want to help my teammates and I want to win, that’s the most important thing. I want to win and make history again.”
While the July 5 friendly game against Santos Laguna has no bearing on much of anything once the regular season starts July 11, Diaz said fans who come to the game will see a full effort from FC Juarez.
“Here it might be a friendly, but to a lot of people it’s a derby (rivalry game),” Diaz said. “People in Juárez take it as an important game so we want to win at whatever cost. It’s something special to be a part of.
“A win is always going to be important, whether it’s a friendly or not. We always look to win, have good structure on the team, have good chemistry. That’s what we’re building right now.”
That will be on display July 5 at a Southwest University Park Diaz has much familiarity with.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: FC Juarez keeper Benny Diaz happy to be back in El Paso for friendly against Santos Laguna
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
