Chivas will try to turn the page on Saturday, 25 July, when it hosts Bravos de Juárez at Estadio Akron in Jornada 2 of the Liga MX Apertura 2026. For Gabriel Milito, it is the first home chance to steady a team that opened with a 0-2 loss to Toluca and left its fans asking for changes.
The match is drawing attention because Chivas needs a response fast. Bravos de Juárez arrives after a 0-1 home loss to Puebla, a game in which Puebla played more than half an hour with ten men, so both sides enter Jornada 2 looking for their first clean answer of the tournament. The Guadalajara–Juárez meeting is now the obvious search point for anyone tracking how Chivas will react after a disappointing start.
Milito has already shown he is willing to use the players he brought into the first match. Kevin Castañeda started against Toluca and got minutes, and Jordan Carrillo also played in the second half. That matters because the coach is not working from a blank page. He has seen at least part of the new structure in a real match, and he has one league game worth of evidence on what held up and what collapsed when the pressure rose.
The first loss also left a narrow but loud debate around the lineup. Some Chivas fans were critical of Luis Romo after the opener, even though he wears the captain’s armband. Others pointed at Rubén Oso González after he was beaten on the second goal, while Ángel Sepúlveda also came under fire for being sent off after raising his arm against Federico Pereira. The criticism has not changed the fact that Romo remains central to the side, but it has made every selection choice harder to ignore.
That is where the real test begins for Milito. If he keeps Romo in the starting group, he is backing the captain over the noise. If he moves him out, he is admitting the first match left a mark. The possible lineup discussion already included Raúl Rangel in goal, though some fans would rather see Óscar Whalley there instead. What is still missing is the full answer: Milito has not revealed the complete XI, and Chivas will take the field on Saturday with that uncertainty still hanging over it.
For Chivas, this is more than another early-season date. It is a home match after a loss, a chance to settle the first round of criticism, and a moment to show whether the opener was a bad night or the start of a longer problem. Bravos de Juárez is next, and in Jornada 2, that is the only answer that matters.
