Atletico Tucuman – Rosario Central

Atletico Tucuman wasted the chance of qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana following a 2-0 home loss to Huracan in their last league game. That result means El Decano lost three of their last four matches in this competition, winning only once in that spell. On a sorry note, the team are on two consecutive losses at their own stadium. Coaches Sergio Gomez and Favio Orsi will miss Tomas Marchiori (sold to Velez Sarsfield) and Ramiro Carrera (Lanus), among others, with Jose Devecchi (arriving from Sarmiento), Nicolas Castro (Platense) and Sergio Ortiz (Independiente) as the biggest signings of the transfer window.

Rosario Central lifted their first league title since 1987 by beating Platense 1-0 in Santiago del Estero on December 16th. They also extended an unbeaten streak to 11 league games (six victories and five draws in regular time). A week after, they lost to River Plate 2-0 in the Trofeo de Campeones final. El Canalla also won 2-1 at Sarandi Arsenal in their last away game to stop a 14-winless run of eight stalemates and six losses on the road. Coach Miguel Russo welcomes Mauricio Martinez (from Ecuador’s LDU Quito) and Franco Ibarra (MLS side Atlanta United) while no important players left the club this summer. Central registered one victory and two draws in preseason friendlies. Jaminton Campaz is still solving his contract renewal and won’t feature here.

The defending champions Rosario Central are one of the few teams that didn’t have many changes in the offseason, and even though today they might not have striker Jamilton Campaz who signed his new contract yesterday, they should be able to avoid a defeat agains this Atletico Tucuman that was mediocre last season and should be the same on this one with not many new players.

BET: Rosario Central +0.25 @ 1.93