On September 21, Estadio Manuel Ferreira (Asunción) will host the match of the 20th round of the Clausura of the Paraguayan Primera, in which Olimpia Asuncion will compete with Sportivo Ameliano. The battle will start at 01:30 CET.
Olimpia Asuncion
The club became the champion of the country for the 46th time in the previous season – that is a unique achievement by the standards of not only Paraguay, but the entire football world. Still, speaking about the current season, “the Dean” is more successful at the international stage, in the Copa Libertadores, where the Paraguayan club was stopped only in the quarter-finals by Fluminense (a 0-2 score in Brazil and a 1-3 result at the home arena). As for the Primera, there were mediocre indicators during the Apertura (31 points in 22 matches and the final 6th place – Libertad got 20 points more), and even now, it is unlikely that anything will change dramatically in the Clausura. Although it is impossible not to note the progress at this stage. Having started the tournament in a pretty unsuccessful way (there happened 3 failures there), then, the team managed to constantly take points for 5 battles in a row: it got 3 draws with the same 1-1 score and defeated Guarani and Sportivo Luqueno.
Sportivo Ameliano
The team was formed back in 1936. Still, “La Vazulada” “hung” out in the fourth division of the country in the middle of the previous decade, despite the fact that Paraguay is not particularly quoted in terms of football. Then it turned out to sharply add in the game, and the club finally proved itself a season ago. It won both the Cup and the Super Cup of the country, which was historically the first such trophy. As for the Copa Sudamericana, the Paraguayan team was stopped by Guarani, which won the play-off with a 3-1 score. The Apertura also brought mediocre results – the club got 30 points in 22 matches, which led only to the final 8th position. Speaking about the Clausura, Ameliano, having won all 3 previous battles, “climbed” into the top 3 (although Libertad has already started to break away).
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Everything has changed dramatically after 3 victories of Olimpia in a row in the previous year. Sportivo won the Super Cup of Paraguay and got 4 points in a couple of head-to-head matches.
Predictions
Bookmakers are waiting for the victory of the hosts in Asunción. Still, Ameliano is in good shape again – it is reasonable to bet on its victory with “a +1 goal handicap” (odd: 1.61).
