Independiente Santa Fe receives Libertad from Paraguay
Independiente Santa Fe receives Libertad from Paraguay today at 7:45 PM, for the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana. The Paraguayans won the first leg 1-0, and in El Campín the 'Cardenales' define their continuity in the tournament they won in 2015.
The team led by Uruguayan Gregorio Pérez will have the best of their lineup to come back in the series. José Moya, Dairon Mosquera, and Anderson Plata are available. Regarding the team that lost in Asunción on August 24, Moya and Daniel Buitrago will not be present.
In the Liga Águila, Santa Fe is the leader with 28 points, while Libertad from Paraguay is fifth with 9 points and is betting everything on the Sudamericana.
On the other hand, the Paraguayan team arrived in Bogotá on Tuesday for the match with a squad of 21 players after losing 0-3 in the last round of the Paraguayan league against the bottom of the tournament, Sol de América.
Libertad's coach, Spanish Fernando Jubero, said that in the Paraguayan Clausura, where his team is fifth with nine points in seven games, and in the Copa Sudamericana they are showing two very different faces.
"In the local tournament, we are not getting the results we want, and it's very different in the Copa where we have achieved three victories," Jubero said.
On the other hand, he stated that the club's objective in Bogotá is to score a goal so that Santa Fe will then have to score three to qualify.
"They have to go out and look for the goal because we have an advantage on the scoreboard. But looking a little at their matches and because of the advantage there is, they can't go out too stretched. They know that if we score it would complicate them a lot and they would have to score three goals so I don't think they will take excessive risks," he explained.
He also highlighted that they cannot "sit back" because the advantage is minimal.
The winner of the series between Santa Fe and Libertad will face the winner of the tie between Racing Club from Argentina and Corinthians from Brazil in the quarter-finals of the Copa Sudamericana.
Possible lineups:
Independiente Santa Fe: Leandro Castellanos; Carlos Arboleda, Javier López, William Tesillo, Dairon Mosquera; Baldomero Perlaza, Yeison Gordillo, Juan Daniel Roar; Anderson Plata, Juan David Valencia, and John Freddy Pajoy.
Coach: Gregorio Pérez.
Libertad: Carlos Servín; Alan Benítez, Antolín Alcaraz, Paulo Da Silva, Salustiano Candia; Antonio Bareiro, Sergio Aquino, Ángel Lucena, Jesús Medina; Santiago Salcedo, and Óscar Cardozo.
Coach: Fernando Jubero.
Referee: Diego Haro (Peru).
Stadium: El Campín in Bogotá.