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Steffen Schmidt - July 31, 2023
Emelec vs Defensa y Justicia
CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana
Date: 2 August 2023, Wednesday
Kick-off at 01:00 UK / 02:00 CET
Venue: Estadio George Capwell (Guayaquil).
Defensa y Justicia will continue their CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana adventures on Tuesday evening with the trip to Guayaquil where they will face Ecuadorian side Emelec in the first leg of the R16 clash at Estadio George Capwell.
The Argentine outfit will enter the tie in higher spirits despite their most recent 2-0 loss at the hands of Union at the weekend.
Defensa y Justicia have generally enjoyed a fantastic campaign in the first half of the season in both Copa Sudamericana and Liga Profesional.
They topped Group F with five successive wins after the inaugural loss while scoring at least three goals in each of the previous four affairs in the competition.
Julio Vaccari’s men have also finished the first half of the season in their domestic league at the sky-high fifth place, well improving on their previous 11th-place finish.
The same can’t be said for Emelec who are nowhere near the form or quality they had a couple of years ago.
Hernan Torres’ squad finished the first part of the season in the Ecuadorian elite class just two points above the rock-bottomed city rivals Guayaquil City.
They have not impressed in the group phase of Copa Sudamericana or the last 32 round clashes against Peruvian side Sporting Cristal either.
It is fair to say that Emelec were lucky to reach this stage of the competition after keeping two clean sheets against Sporting Cristal.
We are very much tempted to take the 3.40 odds for the away win pick here knowing how poor Emelec have been so far in the season across competitions. The more conservative punters (and we will join this train now) can back the Argentines to win or draw as a double chance bet at the 1.61 odds.
Emelec have the third-worst attacking record in the Ecuadorian top flight this season. They’ve only notched a single goal in a double-header with Sporting Cristal in the previous round. We will alternatively take the visitors to keep a clean sheet at the 3.75 odds.
