Union Espanola vs Mushuc Runa Predictions

Tuesday’s Copa Sudamericana first round, first leg action sees Chileans Union Espanola doing battle with Ecuadorian outfit Mushuc Runa. The hosts will be looking to open up a sizeable advantage ahead of the second leg.

Union Espanolo are back in the Sudamericana once again this year and will be hoping their participation goes a lot better than it did last year, given that they exited the competition at this very stage via a 3-0 aggregate defeat to Peruvians Sport Huancayo. Nonetheless, the Chileans now look in good shape and will be hopeful of putting together a decent continental run over the coming months.

Indeed, La Furia Roja are one of Chile’s form teams at the moment and come into Tuesday’s game with confidence sky high, having won their last 4 matches. Favourites coming into the tie, the side will be looking to put one foot in the second round and having plunged home an average of 1,75 goals a game during their current win streak, their prospects certainly look bright in doing so.

Meanwhile, Mushuc Runa have been the beneficiaries of a rather bizarre rule in Ecuadorian football, in which the Serie B champions get to contest a play off match against a qualifying side from the top tier to define who gets a place in the Sudamericana. Mushuc won Serie B last season and the subsequent play-off, and thus find themselves on the big stage.

Nonetheless, with a squad hardly cut out for high level continental football, Mushuc’s participation is expected to be a short one and they’ll do well to even get past this tie. The visitors are struggling heavily upon their return to the Ecuadorian top flight, losing 3 of their last 4 games and their chances don’t really look great prior to arrival on Chilean soil.

Ultimately, Union are fully expected to win this match and the tie overall. Man for man, they are a much stronger team than Mushuc on paper and are the only one of the two that arrives with any kind of form or momentum behind them.

All things considered, we think the hosts will win this match pretty easily and as such, backing them on the -1 handicap looks to provide great value. They’re not finding it had to score goals at the moment and with Mushuc having scored just 1 goal in their last 4 matches, the hosts are unlikely to be troubled defensively either in what could well be a 3-0 margin of victory.