This week we’ll have the definition of the first qualifying phase for the 2024 Copa Libertadores da América. The teams that did not win the national titles, but sought places in their championships, began to face each other.
The first placed team comes out of the clash between Defensor Sporting from Uruguay, against Puerto Cabello from Venezuela, who face each other in 2 games to determine who advances to the second phase of this classification.
This is the second game of this duel and whoever wins will face Always Ready from Bolivia or Sporting Cristal from Peru in the next phase.
Defensor
Defensor is having a terrible start to the season and has simply lost every game they have played so far.
In the first match between these teams, played in Venezuela, Porto Cabello won by a score of 3 to 2 and now the Uruguayan team will need to win by a 2 goals difference at home to qualify. The draw ends up eliminating the team early from the Libertadores dispute.
The team played 3 games in the friendly tournament “Série Rio de La Plata”, played in Uruguay, achieving a draw, but defeat on penalties, then 2 consecutive defeats, to César Vallejo from Peru and Rosário Central, from Argentina.
Starting the 2024 season officially, the team played in the final of the Uruguay Super Cup, and ended up losing the title to Liverpool.
A game that reflected the team’s difficulty, perhaps due to the beginning of the season, but where they had a lot of ball possession, little offensive volume and a difficulty in combating the opponent’s low lines.
It was a goalless draw, until they conceded the defeat in the 71st minute of the match, through Vecino.
This shows us that it must be a team with a lot of problems to be able to reverse this result against the Venezuelan team.
Puerto Cabello
Puerto Cabello played just 3 official games in 2024, achieving a victory and a draw in the Venezuelan league, and also this important advantage playing at home against Defensor.
In the last round of the Venezuelan league, the away team achieved a great victory over Portuguesa by the score of 1-0, but certainly their main game so far was the 3-2 victory against Defensor.
It was a game where the team had the advantage twice in the first half, but throughout the entire match, the one who controlled the ball possession and had the greatest offensive volume was the Uruguayan team, who even away from home tried to play a propositional game.
Puerto Cabello took advantage of the spaces, betting on transitions, but Defensor was rewarded for the proposition game and managed to draw in the second half, which gave them a big advantage for the second game.
Even so, the Uruguayan team has shown instability in defense at this point in the season, and in one of the last plays of regular time, Covea scored the winning goal for the Venezuelan team.
Now the Uruguayan team will need to intensify this game of proposition, they must play with high lines, but will invariably give up space to the visiting team.
Conclusion:
I believe that Defensor is the favorite, but it could still be a little dangerous to bet in their favor. Therefore, the goal line will be my betting choice, due to the needs of the home team.