Cerro Porteno vs Caracas Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

The hosts, Cerro Porteno played in both the Libertadores and the Sudamericana last year, but will have to make do with just the latter this year, after missing out on qualification by just 1 point. They had a decent run in both competitions, going out in the round of 16 in the Libertadores to Boca Juniors, while going a round further in the Sudamericana before being eliminated by Independiente Medellin.

Cerro had made a good start to the domestic campaign this year, winning their first two games.  However that good start has now become an average one, with two poor performances in the last two games leading to two defeats. The latter of those came last Saturday, as they crashed to a 3-0 home defeat to Sol de America, despite dominating large parts of the game.

Caracas are making just their third appearance in the Sudamericana this year, with the side far more used to playing in the Libertadores. They were unfortunate to go out in the first round of that competition last year, as Argentine outfit Huracan edged past them on away goals.  Los Rojos last appearance in the Sudamericana came in 2014, in which they knocked out Peruvian side Ayacucho before going out in the second round to Deportivo Capiata.

Caracas are looking well off the pace back home in their domestic campaign, with it shaping up to be another season of underachievement. After 5 games they side have only 1 win, sitting 12th with 6 points. The team simply draws too many games to ever challenge at the top end of the table, last season they drew 16 out of 38 games and they are on course to achieve a similar record this season.

Everything, including the bookies’ prices point to a home win. Cerro are strong on home soil, the weekends freak result aside, having won 9 of their last 15 at home. Last year they won 5 out of their 6 home ties in the Sudamericana, making short work out of teams with significant more quality than the visitors here possess.

It should be one way traffic throughout. Caracas are going to come and sit deep, looking to escape the Paraguayan capital with as low a defeat as possible. We believe the game will see a high amount of corners, as Cerro pin their opponents back, applying constant pressure on the visiting goal. Caracas may also win a few themselves, as they will have opportunities to break given the host’s desire to kill the tie off here. Cerro’s recent home games have been jammed full of corners and we believe that the corner market provides great value here.