Deportes Tolima (Colombia) vs Tigre (Argentina)
With Diego Herazo and Yeison Guzman finding the back of the net, Deportes Tolima took their first step in the Copa Sudamericana by beating Venezuela’s Academia Puerto Cabello 2-0 away. Last Sunday, Hernan Torres’ men lost 1-0 to Junior at home, which represented their second consecutive defeat in all competitions. As a result, the team dropped out of the playoff zone: with 18 points in 14 matches, El Pijao are trailing eighth-placed Atletico Nacional (who hold two games in hand) by goal difference. The loss also stopped Tolima’s five-match unbeaten streak of four victories and one draw at home.
Tigre found it tough to control Brazil’s Sao Paulo FC offensive power and succumbed to a 2-0 home defeat in the Copa Sudamericana opener. Last Sunday, coach Diego Martinez fielded a completely alternative XI and his team registered a scoreless away draw at bottom-placed Union Santa Fe. El Matador made it 16 points in the league through an irregular campaign (four wins, four draws and four losses). However, that slump in their debut in this competition was Tigre’s only loss across the last five games in all competitions (along with two wins and two draws). On a sorry note, the side are on four away games without a win, drawing two and losing two since beating Belgrano 2-0 in February.
Even if Tolima will have some missings due to injuries, I’ll trust them here to beat a very poor and irregular Tigre that won’t have their top scorer, Mateo Retegui.