Emelec (Ecuador) vs Defensa y Justicia (Argentina)
CS Emelec had enough to secure a scoreless home stalemate against Sporting Cristal from Peru in the return leg of the Copa Sudamericana playoff, making it 1-0 on aggregate. It was their last competitive game as the Ecuadorian league is now taking a break until next weekend (with El Bombillo sitting in 13th place on 14 points after 15 rounds). The team are unbeaten in their last three matches, winning two and drawing one. At home, Emelec are on six games unbeaten, but they won only one and the other five ended in draws.
Meanwhile, Defensa y Justicia secured the first spot of the group F table thanks to a solid 3-1 home success over Millonarios from Colombia, making it an almost perfect group stage (15 points from 18 on offer). Last Friday, coach Julio Vaccari fielded a completely alternative XI and the team ended up losing 2-0 away at Union Santa Fe, which displaced them from the Copa Libertadores zone in the Argentine aggregate table: they ended up in sixth spot of the Liga Profesional rankings on 44 points. That defeat stopped a seven-match unbeaten streak of five victories and two draws in all competitions. Defensa won only one of their last five on the road, drawing one and losing three.
Defensa are clearly better than this poor Emelec that has been playing very little lately due to the ecuadorian league break.