Junior vs Independiente Santa Fe Predictions

Friday’s Copa Sudamericana semi-final, second leg action sees Colombians Junior and Santa Fe facing off. The hosts will be looking to book their place in the final, having won the first leg 2-0.

It’s fair to say Junior expected to do most of the work in this tie on home soil but having secured such a commanding lead following an impressive performance in the first leg, they now have one foot firmly planted in the final. Los Tiburones will have to guard against complacency on Friday and know the job is far from done but if they approach the game in the correct manner, they’re highly unlikely to throw away their advantage.

Spirits are high in home ranks, with the side also having advanced to the final of the closing phase of league action last time out, seeing off Rionegro Aguilas 4-3 on aggregate. As such, 2018 could well be one of Junior’s most successful ever years, depending on how the next couple of weeks go but for now, focus can only be on the task at hand and just 1 defeat in 16 on home soil has confidence high in getting the job done.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe arrive on a real low, having lost their own domestic semi-final on penalties. That leaves the Sudamericana as the visitors’ only focus but in such a poor position, it doesn’t look as though they’ll put themselves within a match of winning the crown they lifted back in 2015.

Despite having made it to this point of the competition and performing reasonably well in league action, it’s not been an easy year for Santa Fe, with the team criticised for their defensive style of play at various points of the season. Going gung-ho is certainly not something Los Cardenales are accustomed to doing but is something they’ll have to try and do on Friday, but failure to score in 3 of their last 4 Sudamericana away games has a comeback looking unlikely.

Ultimately, Junior have done the hard part and now we fully expected them to finish the job off on their own patch in front of the home crowd. Santa Fe were second best in the first leg and now travelling to territory that Junior are so strong on, you just can’t see a way back for them.

All things considered, it’s backing the home win that looks the way to play as far as the betting goes and that’s exactly where our money is going. Not only have Junior lost just 1 of their last 16 home games; they’ve won 12 of them and we think they’ll edge this contest 1-0, enough to seem them comfortably into the final.