Academia Puerto Cabello (Venezuela) vs Tigre (Argentina)
Academia Puerto Cabello showed a worthy version on their visit to Sao Paulo in Brazil in week two, but they couldn’t avoid a 2-0 away defeat. As a result, the team are yet to earn points in the Copa Sudamericana group D after two rounds. Last Friday, La Academia had to settle for a scoreless home draw against Deportivo Tachira and made it three winless matches in all competitions (one stalemate and two defeats). The side remain as solid league leaders, accumulating 29 points in 12 matches so far (ten over second-placed Caracas FC). At home, they won five, drew one and lost one in 2023.
Tigre secured a massive 2-1 away success at Deportes Tolima in week two after reversing the score thanks to goals from Facundo Colidio and Tomas Badaloni. As a result, they grabbed the first three points in group D, occupying third spot and trailing their last opponents (who already played three games) by one. Last Saturday, El Matador drew 1-1 away at Gimnasia LP to make it six competitive matches without defeat (three victories and three draws). Speaking of the league, Diego Martinez’s men are on 20 points in 14 matches, sitting in tenth spot of the table. Tigre won three, drew four and lost two on the road this season.
Must win game for the hosts after losing their first two and conceding 2 goals per game, Tigre is always dangerous as they showed at Colombia last month when they took the first points in this competition, so I’m going for the OVER here as the venezuelan team will be taking risks and the visitors can definitely punish them with their strong attack that includes the argentinean league top scorer, Mateo Retegui.