Barracas Central can claim their first home triumph in the second phase of the Argentine Primera Division season when they host Atletico Tucuman on Monday at Estadio Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia.
On Tuesday, La Malla Enteriza had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Independiente, while Tucuman were 1-0 winners over Instituto.
Match preview
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Some poor home results are hindering the chances of Barracas Central from qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana next season.
Alejandro Orfila's men have just a single point from three league matches played in Barracas in this phase of the Argentine Primera Division campaign, losing two of those encounters without scoring.
Entering matchday eight, they find themselves a point back of a place in the Sudamericana and five below a spot in the Copa Libertadores qualifiers.
Barracas have not lost a league contest this year when scoring multiple goals, though they have not been able to do that since claiming a 3-3 draw with Argentinos Juniors on matchday 14 of the opening round.
Baraquenos hosted Atletico Tucuman for the first time this year in the Copa de la Liga, winning that match by a score of 2-0.
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While playing at home has hampered Barracas this year, the opposite has been true for Tucuman, who are winless in three away fixtures in the second phase.
They have, however, collected a single point in back-to-back away contests as they sit 24th in the overall table, nine points above the relegation line.
Facundo Sava's men are unbeaten in this phase when scoring first but have also dropped four points when netting the opening goal.
Four of their six goals conceded in this round of the competition have come away from home while they have found the back of the net only twice as the visitors.
Though they lost their only previous away contest versus Barracas Central, El Decano have points in three of their four all-time meetings against them.
Team News
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Expect Barracas to be missing Lucas Lopez on Monday due to an ACL issue, while Maximiliano Puig has a tendon injury, and both players are projected to return in early August.
Goalkeeper Sebastian Moyano made four stops in their match with Independiente for his first clean sheet since his side claimed a 1-0 triumph over Godoy Cruz on matchday one of this phase.
There is one injury concern on the Atletico Tucuman side, as Mateo Coronel is likely a few weeks away from returning from his muscle strain.
Marcelo Estigarribia came on for Mateo Bajamich in the second half versus Instituto, netting the winner five minutes from the end, while Tomas Durso collected a clean sheet.
Barracas Central possible starting lineup:
Moyano; Velurtas, Capraro, Demartini, Tolosa; Herrera, Rosane; Iacobellis, Duarte, Coronel; Candia
Atletico Tucuman possible starting lineup:
Durso; Brandan, De los Santos, Romero, Infante; Tesuri, Sanchez, Melo, Pereyra; Estigarribia, Bajamich
We say: Barracas Central 0-0 Atletico Tucuman
Neither side have been all that clinical in the attacking third in the second phase, so we expect to see a dull but close game on Monday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
