Barracas Central vs Sarmiento
Barracas Central opened up their Liga Profesional campaign in a promising way: they managed a massive 1-0 away success at Godoy Cruz (the best team in the last tournament) thanks to a late strike from Alexis Dominguez. El Guapo secured their first three points in this competition and also made it four victories across the last six league matches (along with one draw and one loss), approaching the Copa Libertadores’ zone in the aggregate table. Barracas have been unbeaten in their last five matches as the hosting side, winning four and drawing one. All regulars are available for Friday.
Sarmiento experienced a disappointing debut in the Liga Profesional last Friday. The 2-1 home defeat to Instituto means Israel Damonte’s men are now holding a five-match losing streak in league action and, still pointless in this competition, El Verde remain just 4 points above the relegation spot in the aggregate rankings, occupied by Tigre at the moment. To make matters worse, Sarmiento claimed a single victory across their last eight away matches, drawing two and losing five in that time. Sergio Quiroga and Juan Insaurralde have served their respective suspensions and are available for Friday.
A Barracas win would be the expected result here but I’ll go for the OVER on this very short totals line because Sarmiento looked decent in the 1st round despite the unlucky defeat at home, and as they are getting in deeper trouble in the relegation table they are taking more and more risks. Barracas scored at least once in 6 of their 7 home games this year so I won’t be surprised to see both teams scoring.