Estudiantes vs Velez
Estudiantes secured a ticket to the Copa Liga Profesional final last Tuesday, when beating Boca Juniors on penalties following a heated 1-1 stalemate in Cordoba, and will fight for their first league title since 2010. El Pincha made it five consecutive matches without defeat in this competition, winning four and drawing one in this competition (since losing away at Defensa y Justicia 1-0 in March). With Javier Altamirano still regaining his match fitness, the rest of the squad is at Eduardo Dominguez’s disposal for Sunday’s clash.
Velez Sarsfield made a remarkable effort to reach the Copa Liga Profesional final. Despite suffering Braian Romero’s sending off in the 12nd minute of the game, the team had enough to hold onto a scoreless draw against Argentinos Juniors in San Nicolas last Sunday. As a result, the team are still alive in the fight for a new league title in the club’s history (the first one since 2012). Gustavo Quinteros’ men made it four league games without defeat (two victories and two draws in regular time). Striker Braian Romero is suspended for Sunday after seeing a red card last time out. On the other hand, Elias Gomez returns from his ban.
Nobody expected to see Velez in the final, especially after a very poor start of the season that included a 0-5 defeat vs River, but here they are and it’s well deserved considering how solid they’ve looked lately with this young and very competitive team. The bad news for them is that they won’t have their top scorer Brian Romero (scored 4 out of their 14 goals). Estudiantes is also a fair finalist even though they didn’t show it in the semifinals vs Boca where they should have lost.
I expect a very tight game here like most finals, with Velez playing well in defense (they’ve only conceded 3 goals in their last 9 games) and maybe taking this to extra time.