Oliver White
Dailysports's expert
Translated by the editors
On September 5, Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado (Quito) will host the match of the 20th round of the 2nd stage of the Ecuadorian Liga Pro, in which LDU Quito will compete with Guayaquil City. The battle will start at 02:00 CET.
LDU Quito
The club became the champion of the country 11 times – however, the last time it took gold medals was back in 2018. Nowadays, “the Whites” are in quite good shape, and it was not in vain that, having won a penalty shoot-out after the exchange of victories, they overcame Sao Paulo in the quarter-finals of the Copa Sudamericana just the day before. Paolo Guerrero (the same experienced and “shooting” Peruvian footballer, who is already 39) and the company also play well at the inner arena. Only losses in the spring and an abundance of draws in recent weeks do not allow “Los Universitarios” to rise to the sole leaders. Still, the team can take the title – speaking about the current, 2nd stage, Luis Zubeldia’s wards got 8 points in 4 matches (due to 2 victories and 2 draws). As a result, it turns out to be on a par with the leaders of the tournament, Mushuc Runa and Delfin.
Guayaquil City
The team was created in 2007 as the Ecuadorian “farm” of River Plate – and it was not in vain that it bore the name of its “womb” from Argentina for the first years. As for 2010-2014, “the Pearl of the Pacific” played in the local Serie B, and then it turned out to be promoted higher. Still, Pool Gavilánez’s wards (the mentor who has been coaching the team since 2017) have not achieved anything special. Speaking about the previous season, it was possible to close the top 10 of the local Serie A. This time, only 12 points were taken in 15 matches of the 1st stage – the worst result of all 16 participants. Moreover, the current stage started with a couple of draws, and a crushing defeat made by the leader, Mushuc Runa. And only the previous round brought, due to the penalty in the 20th minute of the battle against Orense, the first victory in 8 confrontations.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
LDU Quito has won the lion’s share of head-to-head matches. For instance, Guayaquil City took only 1 draw in 4 previous head-to-head battles.
Predictions
Bookmakers do not believe that the guests will achieve something positive. We recommend betting that “Los Universitarios” will win at the home arena with “a -1.5 goal handicap” (odd: 1.72).
