Independiente Santa Fe vs Junior Predictions

Friday’s Copa Sudamericana semi final, first leg features an all Colombian affair between Santa Fe and Junior. A tight 90 minutes are expected to be in order with the stakes so high.

Santa Fe are certainly no strangers to facing domestic rivals in the Sudamericana this year, with wins over Millonarios and Deportivo Cali combined with a triumph against Uruguayans Rampla Juniors allowing them to reach this point. Winners of the competition back in 2015, Los Cardenales have their eyes firmly on the prize once again and there can be little doubting that Friday’s game in undoubtedly their biggest of the year so far.

Arriving off the back of 3 consecutive wins, playing some impressive attacking football that has far from been a feature in their performances this year, Santa Fe arrive with confidence at peak levels. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether or not they’ll return to their typically defensive stance in the fixture but whatever the style of play, those taking to the field will surely be confident of securing some kind of result.

Meanwhile, Junior did very well to eliminate an extremely strong Defensa y Justicia outfit in the quarter-finals, winning 2-0 on home soil and withstanding a barrage of attacks in Argentina to advance despite a 3-1 defeat on the night. Having also knocked out a couple of other Argentine opponents in the form of Lanus and Colon, Los Tiburones have looked strong in the Sudamericana so far and they now have a more familiar foe within their sights.

Such a powerful force on home soil, Junior know that if they escape Bogota with at least parity in store, they’ll be huge favourites to advance in the second leg. Coming into the trip having hammered Alianza Petrolera 3-0 away from over the weekend, confidence is clearly high in travelling ranks and those taking to the field do so with morale at maximum levels.

Ultimately, this appears a very even tie on paper and little separates the two. Over two legs, you’d probably have to have Junior down as slight favourites given their excellent home form and the fact they are 4 points above Santa Fe in domestic action, but there’s not likely to be a great deal in it

As such, backing a draw looks an excellent way to play and is exactly where our money is going at appealing odds. For all their recent improvement, Santa Fe have won just 3 of their last 10 home games, drawing 5 times in the process and having also drawn 5 of their last 6 Sudamericana matches, it’s really not hard to envisage the match ending in stalemate and we think it’ll do so without a goal being scored.