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Last Sunday, Universitario de Deportes departed for Brazil to face Goiás in the fourth round of the group stage in the Copa Sudamericana 2023. Jorge Fossati's team arrives motivated by their performance in the international tournament - they are the leaders of the group with seven points - and in the Liga 1 - they won 4-0 against Universidad César Vallejo in the last match. However, they are not overconfident because Tuesday's challenge will be more complex: they are playing for first place in group G.
Martín Pérez Guedes expressed to GOLPERU regarding the match in Brazil, "we are looking to achieve a good result. Hopefully, it will be a good match". The midfielder also emphasized that the team's goal is to win, as they have done in the Copa Libertadores matches (even in the draw against Goiás in Lima).
He explained, "one characteristic of this team is to fight on equal terms on all fields. We will try, with intelligence, to have a good match," said the Argentine midfielder while heading to the Jorge Chávez airport. At the moment, the Universitario team leads group G with seven points (two wins and one draw), while the Brazilians have five.
Lastly, he revealed, "the team is in good shape, we are happy, so we have to keep working". Last weekend, the 'U' earned three more points in the Torneo Apertura after defeating 'Poetas' 4-0 at the Monumental stadium (they are currently five points behind Alianza Lima, leaders of the Torneo Apertura).
A single objective: qualification
To advance to the round of 16 in the Copa Sudamericana, teams must finish in first place in their respective groups. However, for this edition, a new qualification method has been added, where the clubs that finished in second place in each group will compete against the third-place teams from the Copa Libertadores to determine who will continue in the international tournament.
That's why it is crucial to earn three points. Fossati stated to GOLPERU at the airport, "we have a lot of confidence in the team. We hope to have a great performance". At the moment, the 'cremas' are the leaders of the group, while Independiete Santa Fe from Colombia is in third place with four points and Gimnasia from Argentina is in fourth place without any points.
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