Steven Perez
Dailysports's expert
Audax Italiano
CD Nublense
On July 21, Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida (Santiago de Chile) will host the second leg of the 1/16 finals of the Copa Sudamericana, in which Audax Italiano will compete with Ñublense. The battle will start at 00:00 CET.
Audax Italiano
The team was able to take its 4 championship titles in the interval from 1936 to 1957. Still, there were no new big successes, and now it is the middle peasant of the Chilean top division, which periodically finishes high enough to start even in the Copa Libertadores. Nowadays, however, the team limited itself only by the less-rated Copa Sudamericana; it is reasonable to mention that the club had to break through additional play-off matches there – there was a struggle with Universidad Católica. In order to play again in the relegation matches with fellow countrymen, it was necessary to overcome the group round. And the team lost only to Newell’s Old Boys (at the same time, it was stronger than another status rival, Brazilian Santos). That was enough to ensure the right to play with Ñublense. And the away battle brought a pretty good result – a goalless draw was achieved.
Ñublense
The club has existed for more than a century – it was founded in 1916. Still, there were no trophies; moreover, it “hung” out for a long time in the second, and even in the third, divisions. It managed to return to the Primera by winning a lower football league in 2021 and then the team immediately took the vice-championship of the country. That success made it participate even in the Copa Libertadores. Being already there, the newcomer showed, from the point of view of its level, a good result. It goes without saying that 4 out of 5 points were got in the battles against Aucas, but perhaps the 3rd place was a realistic maximum, and the prize was a ticket to the play-offs of the Copa Sudamericana. Still, that tournament started with a home goalless draw in the struggle with a well-known opponent.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Audax had won twice, both times on the away field, in the Chilean championship before the Copa.
Predictions
Bookmakers believe that the hosts of the arena have more chances for success. Ñublense has recently become a convenient opponent for Audax Italiano – thus, we bet on the victory of the hosts with “a 0 goal handicap” (odd: 1.71).
