Colon vs Zulia Predictions

Friday’s Copa Sudamericana quarter final, second leg action sees Argentines Colon de Santa Fe doing battle with Venezuelans Zulia at the Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López. It’s the hosts who have it all to do after losing the first leg 1-0.

It’s fair to say Colon didn’t meet expectations in the first leg and are fortunate they only lost by one goal, as they struggled to assert themselves at any stage of the match. Los Sabaleros came into this tie as huge favourites given the disparity between the two sides on paper but they will have to buck their ideas up significantly if they are indeed to reach the semi finals come the end of Friday.

Having seen off Deportivo Municipal, River Plate (URU) and Argentinos Juniors to reach this point of the Sudamericana, Colon have looked a strong force in the competition and won’t want to throw away all their good work by crashing out here. They’ve won 2 of their 3 home ties so far in the competition and that can at least leave confidence pretty high coming into the game.

Meanwhile, whilst Zulia will be happy to have established an advantage to defend in Santa Fe, that feeling will also be tinged with a feeling of disappointment that it isn’t a more substantial one. Indeed, the Venezuelans caught the Argentines on a real off night and will know they can expect to meet a far sterner test this time around.

Zulia will travel to Argentine soil with a very defensive game plan pieced together and all focus is on merely trying to hang on. That being said, the visitors haven’t looked the most secure on the road recently, losing their last two matches away from home and having conceded an average of 1.5 goals a game over their last 4 trips, keeping an all important clean sheet doesn’t appear likely on Friday.

Ultimately, this is a tie that appears far from over and you have to fancy Colon to come back. Given the difference in quality and resource between the two, it’d be an embarrassment if Colon were indeed to lose to Zulia and they should play in a highly aggressive manner to try and avoid said fate.

All things considered, backing Colon on the -1 handicap looks the best way to play as far as the betting is concerned and is exactly where our money is going. Colon aren’t in the best of form but the difference in quality between the Argentine game they come from and it’s Venezuelan counterpart cannot be stressed enough and the hosts should have more than enough firepower to turn the tie around, with a 2-0 margin of home victory on the cards.